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I am going to start this out by saying Merry Christmas. I love this time of year. I love the lights and the happiness that they bring to so many. I love the Christmas music from the old Christmas Carols to the new things being performed by our popular artist. I do not consider myself a typical Christian. I don’t believe in the Church and many of its teachings. I do believe in the love and the kindness that this time of year is suppose to bring. I also know the heartache that it can bring. I have not spent a Christmas with my children for over 20 years. They are from my first marriage so their holidays are divided with my ex-wife and their in-laws. We used to celebrate Christmas the week before but to be truthful with you it made Christmas just more depressing for me. I wanted to be with my children but understood what the pressures that they had on their lives so quietly, I backed away.  I had to find other ways to make the day special.

What are we celebrating really at Christmas? Many will say the birth of Jesus and for many that is probably true but why do we celebrate his birth when he really wasn’t born December 25th?  Most scholars believe he was born in the fall. What was so important about the end of December? Could it be that there was already a darn good celebration already going on that was being celebrated by much of the world north of the equator? Many civilizations were celebrating the Winter Solstice which let’s face it was a little bit of pagan worship. There is an old saying “If you can’t beat them you joined them” so the new Roman Church invented Christmas as a way of replacing all the winter solstice celebrations. When people say that the whole world celebrates Christmas which actually means Christ’s Mass is not really true. A lot of the world has been celebrating this time of the year though so it may actually be the most wonderful time of the year. We decorate trees in our home which many cultures have done. Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans and Druids all decorated trees. If it was good enough for them it is good enough for me. It really brightens up the whole house with its festive glow. Even the giving of gifts was taken from the custom of presenting gifts when meeting a king. Do you know what? I really don’t care; giving gifts is just a great thing to do and gives you a nice warm feeling inside.

This morning out for breakfast we saw a group of third shift healthcare workers having breakfast. We very quietly paid for their breakfast, said thank you to them for their work and left. To me that is the real meaning of Christmas. It is a chance for everyone to reinvent themselves a little. A chance for us to start over again and maybe a little kinder and compassionate for your fellow man. A chance to see what gifts we give instead of what gifts we receive.

I have all kinds of Christmas wishes but the first one would be for life. Not just mine but for everyone. I wish everyone would vaccinate and mask up. That would be like a gift that we give to our loved ones and our neighbors. I wish that we could end racism and white supremacy. We really all should be working to be brothers. That would take change by all sides but it would be a worthwhile goal. I wish we could end violence especially the violence against our children.  I wish we could end poverty but that would mean paying people a livable wage. It is possible but it we would need to start valuing people more than money.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays or whatever you want to call this time of year. It is a special time of year. That every year we should make the season longer and longer so maybe we will remember it throughout the year.

The True Origin of Christmas (rcg.org).

History of Christmas - Origins, Traditions & Facts - HISTORY

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