Monday, December 24, 2007

The Greatest Man Says.

"To make a Christmas best," says my Great Uncle Herman, "it is up to you to decide. The entire purpose of the season is joy. It has nothing to do with gifts or food, but with giving thanks and praise to life and to those in your life. That's Christmas. To love."

I made a tremendous effort at the Christmas spirit this year, an attempt to counter a dragging preconception that it would be the worst Christmas. Quite a failure.

But I was speaking to Herman at the big Christmas dinner one side of my family has every year, and his words showed me where I went wrong. Well, everyone seems to dislike Christmas. But it seems that what everyone dislikes about it are the things Christmas is not even meant for. People stress out to purchase obligatory gifts. But when gift giving is supposed to be a representation of that thanks and praise a person ought to be sharing, this stress has no place. So cast it aside. Focus on the enjoyment of your company; feel the love focused upon you; reflect it back.

1 comment:

Jenner-Brooke Berger said...

I would to have every single person who said "I didn't get you anything though" to read this