Out of season, but on a more serious note

On a more serious note, I realize this piece is a bit out of season.  I can say, however, the themes are pretty relevant year-round.  I was going through old writings and thought I'd share.

I’m a non-Christian and I love Christmas.  Certain people tell me I have no right to that, but Christmas isn’t a Christian holiday.  Anyone that wants to parrot the phrase "Jesus is the reason for the season" could benefit from a quick Google search on Pagan winter solstice celebrations and what scholars believe to be the actual birthdate of Christ.  I don’t have to believe in a particular religion to appreciate the beauty of a huge Christmas tree decorated to the nines.  I don’t have to believe in a particular religion to appreciate an excuse to hang out with friends and drink egg nog in tacky sweaters.  I don’t have to believe in a particular religion to feel a warm grip of nostalgia when I think about sitting in the basement, home from Christmas break, wrapping Christmas presents and watching “A Christmas Story” for the 5th time in a month.  Christmas is a religious holiday and money is the religion. Why waste energy fighting it?

My four-year-old self wasn't capable of wrapping my brain around the concept of "commercial", at least not to the degree that my brain can now.  Christmas was about one thing to me—presents. Presents=awesome so therefore Christmas=awesome. Can you name anything today that excites you SO MUCH that you can’t wait to jump out of bed at 6AM?  I can’t wait to feel so alive about something again.  No matter what happens, I’ll always have those memories stuffed away in my brain.  Dressing in stuffy clothes to my bi-annual trip to Church where I was bored with a bunch of stories that I was too young to understand but just old enough to feel guilty for not believing in certainly didn’t make me race out of the bedroom on Christmas morning.  I knew better, but my love for toys was enough to make me ignore the flawed logic of a man in a suit visiting every house in the world in a few hour window to deliver them toys for no other reason than out of the kindness of his heart.  My love for toys was enough to make me overlook the flawed logic that a bunch of elves in a toy shop could possibly build a fully functional Sega Genesis in a box with packaging that perfectly matches what I’d find in a store. Denial is a powerful tool.  When life is good, you don’t ask questions.

Over the years it gradually mattered less.  I really didn’t care if I received a single gift.  The season mattered.  Strangers are a little nicer to one another.  The world takes a deep breath.  People take vacations and connect with people that really matter.  As I’ve grown older, I will take these things over a useless hunk of plastic that will probably end up broken or lost by February anyway.  My four-year-old self didn't appreciate that Christmas is one time of year that my relatives all gather under one roof—even if I’m not that close to any of them.  My four-year-old self didn't appreciate the phrase “good will toward men”.  My 29-year-old self does. 

Christmas connects us to the past.  Whether it’s the memories of people, things, places, or events of the past—we all have them. Whether a Christmas is fantastic or uneventful, we’re forced to examine our feelings and perceptions of it.  A rejection of Christmas is, in itself, an acknowledgment of its cultural grip.

This Christmas, if you feel like buying gifts for the people in your life because you want to spread joy to them—that's awesome.  If you don’t, and just want to celebrate the holiday for the feelings of cheer—that’s okay too.  The holidays are the one time of the year we’re forced to confront the idea of making memories, whether or not we’re ready or comfortable with it.  Christmas is completely commercialized, but what isn’t?  We have no control over the advertisers and the retailers, only how we react.  Decide whether you want to celebrate Christmas or you want to celebrate possession. If you feel obligated to buy gifts because the calendar says so, then you’re the reason why Christmas is commercialized.  If having a commercial Christmas gives you a happy Christmas, go for it.  Happiness is the point of Christmas after all, regardless of manifestation.  It won’t affect me.  I’ll be watching “A Christmas Story”.