Merry Christmas EVERYONE!

It’s The Best Celebration Ever

A non-cranky Christmas opinion for

Cranky Opinion Saturday

I agree it is over commercialized and the religious significance of the day is often lost, but hands down, Christmas is the best Holiday Celebration ever!

Jews have their gift giving during Chanukah, and they have some really great feasts, but do they have a celebration to equal Christmas?

Chinese New Year’s has colors, costumes, and fireworks galore.  It looks like fun, but it is not Christmas.

I am clearly not an expert in other customs and celebrations, but it seems to me that most involve sacrifice.  I see a lot of fasting, staying inside, beating yourself with chains and other stuff.  Sacrifice is fine, I imagine God appreciates the sentiment, but there is no other holiday like Christmas. 

What other holiday has children counting down the days for a month?  What other holiday covers homes and streets with bright flickering lights?  What other holiday just makes people feel good, has them smiling, and has strangers speaking to strangers? What other holiday has the traditions: Santa, reindeer, decorating a tree, mistletoe, stockings, elves, cookies, candy canes, a huge dinner and GIVING AND RECEIVING PRESENTS?

Christmas brings families together like no other holiday, plus,

YOU GIVE AND RECEIVE PRESENTS!

I understand that Christmas is a Christian holiday, but it is such a good time, such a great celebration, so much fun, I think everyone should celebrate the season.

You don’t believe in Jesus?  Fine, but you gotta like lights, and peace and love and GIVING AND RECEIVING PRESENTS!

You don’t accept Christ?  You don’t worship any higher power? Fine, but everyone can celebrate the ideals of Christ.  Who wouldn’t celebrate the idea of peace and love and goodwill toward men?  Do unto others is a sound aspiration regardless of if or how you worship.

So I say to everyone, Jew, Muslim, Hindi, Atheist…whatever, join in the celebration, do not be left out, it is the most wonderful time of the year, it is the best celebration ever, and YOU GIVE AND GET PRESENTS!!

To me “Merry Christmas” represents more than the birth of Christ, it represents all that Christ stands for to Christians, ideals that do not conflict with any religious teachings I’ve ever heard of, ideals that all people could get behind and thus Christmas can be for everyone.

You don’t have to be Irish to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. 

You don’t have to be Mexican to enjoy a Cinco de Mayo drink or three. 

Why do you have to be Christian to enjoy Christmas?

So please, if you are not Christian, do not be offended when I wish you Merry Christmas, you don’t have to be Christian to enjoy Christmas!

Merry Christmas EVERYONE!

Ho Ho Ho

Ho Ho Ho

I love Christmas.  I have always loved Christmas, but I have to confess there is one thing about this holiday celebration that I hate.

I hate the Ho Ho Ho!

Come on now, haven’t you known people that laugh at everything they say?  Doesn’t it annoy you when people say something that isn’t funny and then laugh?  Everything these people ever say, they follow with a laugh.

“Good morning, Ha ha ha ha!”

“Do you want cream with your coffee? Ha ha ha ha!”

What is it with these people?  What is it with Santa Clause?

“Merry Christmas Ho Ho Ho!”

“On Dasher, on Prancer, on Donna and Blixon Ho Ho Ho!”

What is so funny about "Merry Christmas?"  Why does Santa laugh when he commands his reindeer?  The Lone Ranger did not say “High Ho Ho Ho Silver Away.”

I am sure that laughing after everything you say has some serious psychological implications.  Is Santa some kind of a nut?  Is it safe for little children to sit on his lap?

“Well hello little girl Ho Ho Ho!  Come sit on old Santa’s lap Ho Ho Ho!  And what do you want for Christmas Ho Ho Ho!”

Is there anything funny about any of that conversation?  No wonder so many kids are scared of Santa.  They recognize weird when they see it.

Jolly old elf indeed, there’s something wrong with that guy.

Stop the Ho Ho Ho.  A smile would do. 

CHRISTMAS DISSAPOINTMENT

CHRISTMAS DISSAPOINTMENT

 

When I was seven years old I received the best Christmas present ever.  I had recently learned how to ride a bike, but I did not have my own.  My brothers’ bikes were too big and I was not allowed to ride them off of my block.  I desperately wanted a new bike.  I wanted my own bike, a bike that was the right size and a bike that would give me freedom, at least as much freedom as a seven year old could be allowed.  In 1953, in southern California, a seven year old was given a surprising amount of freedom to roam… “Just be home before dark!”

That Christmas I ran down the stairs to find a 24” green Schwinn wrapped with a single red bow on the handlebar.  I was beside myself with glee.  It was the best present ever.

Many, many years later, I had the opportunity to pass the joy along.  I don’t remember giving any of my first brood a bike for Christmas, they probably got garage sale bargains, but for Spencer, my son born of wife #2, I had the means to purchase a brand new bike for his seventh Christmas.

Just the anticipation of the look on his face, his squeal of excitement when he would first see this bike, gave me the same warm glow as I had those many years ago when I was on the receiving end of my own Christmas Bike.

On Christmas Eve, while wife and son were asleep, I prepared the Christmas morning magic.  To the already decorated tree I added candy canes, a clear sign that Santa had been to our home.  I stuffed the stockings, another clue that the jolly elf had arrived, and I ate the cookies and drank the milk which had been left to nourish the man in red.  My last act was to distribute additional presents under the tree and for the coup de grace,  I hauled out Spencer’s new red bike from the shed and left it where it would be the first thing he saw from the stairs on Christmas morning.  A bow on the handlebars set the scene for a moment that my son would remember forever, a vivid memory the same as my own.

I was as excited to see his face when he saw that bike as I was when I found my own bike those many years ago.

Christmas morning came, and Spencer ran down the stairs.

“Candy canes, Santa was here!  The stockings are full; they were empty when I went to bed!  Look, he ate the cookies we left!”

“And what else do you see Spence?”

“Ah…lots of presents under the tree.”

“Yes, but anything special?”

“The bike?”

“YES!! The bike!”

“Yeah, it’s nice…can I empty my stocking now?”

I was taken aback by his lack of enthusiasm for a new bike.  When I was seven it was the greatest gift ever.  For Spencer it was “oh yeah, a bike.”

I tried to hide my disappointment.  Why the difference.  Were children today so spoiled?  Then it hit me.  Sixty years earlier, my bike cost $95.  That was a sum of huge proportions for a seven year old in 1953.  The bike I bought Spencer cost $75.  It was as good as or better than my old bike, but the cost was the equivalent to a basketball in my day.

Nice, but no big deal.

Furthermore, my bike allowed me to travel around the block and even to several blocks over.  Spencer’s new bike allowed him to ride around in circles in the parking lot behind our house.  He was capable of riding it further, but children in his generation are not allowed the freedom that I had.  Traffic considerations and stories of child-napping have stripped this generation of the innocence that was the joy of mine.

It was still a good Christmas.  My son was not disappointed.  He got most of the stuff he wanted.  I was the only one that missed out.  I missed out on the look of glee that only a seven year old can have when he gets a new bike for Christmas. 

That look of glee now comes with the unwrapping of a new i-pad, or an X-box. 

It is still a good look, but nothing could ever be the same as it was with a new Schwinn to a seven year old in the 1953.