I am going to start this out by saying Merry Christmas. I do not say that as an effort to put Christ back into Christmas. To me it is just a greeting that people use this time of year. You can say Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, or any other greeting that fits the season.  You can actually say Happy Winter Solstice and I will not be offended. Why? Because as I have gotten older this day has developed a bigger meaning than just the belief in one Religion. I was raised to believe that is was the day the Jesus was born. As I have gotten older and better educated I learned that it was the symbolic day that Jesus was born. That is fine with me just like it is fine with me for people to celebrate all of the other reasons to celebrate this time of year. It has become a day of new beginnings. A day to reflect and to try and promise that I will do a better job in the coming year.

Growing up I would go to Church and my Father and Uncles would sing Christmas songs and I always thought that my Uncles sounded better than the choir. Even though my faith has gone in a different direction I still think of those days as great memories that I would never want to trade. Some great music was written for Christmas and is still being written. I really enjoy the music of the season. I will admit that they start playing the Christmas music a little too early, just like they put out all the Christmas displays too early but retailers are very anxious to get us into the Christmas spirit and let’s just say the buying spirit. My wife always makes me wait till Thanksgiving to turn on our outdoor Christmas lights because she knows that I would turn them on the minute I put them up which is the usually the week before Thanksgiving. I love decorating our little palm trees with lights and we even put little red knit hats on our yard flamingos. Most of the people in our complex don’t decorate even though we live in Florida and it is so easy. You aren’t freezing your butt off and in reality it only takes a couple of minutes to put out a string of lights. I always think that it is their loss.

I will tell you that I am one of those “woke” people. I know why the birth of Jesus is celebrated on December 25^th and it has nothing to do with the real date that Jesus was born on which is basically unknown. A Jehovah Witness once told me that his church, which doesn’t celebrate Christmas, thinks that Jesus may have been born sometime in October but that Jesus wanted to be remembered by his death and not by his birth. I really don’t care about that. I do know that a big festival was already being celebrated that time of year around the world and by many cultures. That was the celebration of the Winter Solstice which the Romans call Saturnalia.  You can look at it one of two ways. The first way was that the Roman Church knew a good thing when they saw it so they incorporated the birth of Jesus so they could join in the festivities. The second way is that the Roman Church thought of it as a Pagan ceremony and thought they needed to replace it. I really don’t care which one is true I am happy for the season.

I have no problem sharing this time of year with many religions, nationalities and cultures. I have no problem with borrowing from any of them. The ancient Egyptians used to bring trees in and decorate them. The Vikings has a festival of light this time of year where they would light fires that they used to ward off evil spirits. Hanging mistletoe was for warding off evil spirits and because it grew in winter it was a symbol of fertility. Even the decoration of our homes with greenery is of Northern European Pre- Christian origins. Many of the so called Pagan rituals went on to become part of our everyday Christmas celebration. I have no problem with that, the more the merrier. Peace on Earth good will to men. That sentence does not say just Christians; I think it means all men and all women, everyone. Everything about the season to me is being able to feel like I can start anew. I know I really can’t, but even at 69 years old I do love the feeling.

Like many I too feel that the meaning of Christmas is lost but the deference with me is that I feel the Christians are the ones that have lost it. I saw a Christmas posting of this lovely family standing in front their Christmas tree all posing with their assault rifles. If this was a Solstice greeting from the Taliban I would think that was par for the course but this was from a White American Family. Do people really think that is appropriate for the celebration of Christmas? Do they really think that Jesus would be running around with an Uzi? Do they really think that Jesus would care what our 2^nd Amendment says or what it means? Come on folks, this was the turn the other cheek guy. This is the guy that went silently to his death for your sins if you believe the Bible. He didn’t try to rally the masses to try and over throw Herod and the Romans so he could be made King. He was the guy that walked among the poor not the billionaires. He was the guy that fed people when they were hungry and healed people when they were sick. His net value at his death was zero. I don’t even think he owned the donkey that he rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This is a guy that as a child had to seek asylum in Egypt because Herod wanted to put him to death. Don’t you think he would want you to be at the border helping the people searching for a better life? Why is the Church not there helping those people? Jesus didn’t want to build a wall; I think he would want to tear them down.

I love the food and the friendship and the feeling of family at Christmas. Family is who we are with. I love making my cookies and sharing them. I love the lights and the pageantry. I love the feeling of starting anew. As you go about your Holiday season just take a few minutes and think about what that Holiday season means to you.