Christmas Greetings

(This is a column originally published for Christmas in 1992. Hope you enjoy it and may you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007-08)


The Christmas spirit touched me early this year and I'm not sure
why. Normally I don't think much about the holiday until it's almost
here but this year is different. I found myself humming Christmas
music weeks ago and I keep day dreaming about, of all things, going
for an old fashioned sleigh ride. I've never been in a horse drawn
sleigh in my life and yet there I am, at least in my imagination,
riding through the woods and over the hills toward a far off village.
I can hear the jingling sleigh bells and feel the cold on my cheeks.
It's like living in a Christmas card. This is strange behavior for
someone who tends to be a little like Scrooge at this time of year.

You see I love Christmas itself, I just don't like all the fuss
and planning and hype that goes along with it. I'm uncomfortable with
the Christmas buying frenzy that's underway now and I feel the holiday
has become much too hectic for most people. And yet, I still find
myself in this mysterious Christmassy mood.

Even the Christmas chores, as I call them, couldn't destroy the
seasonal spirit that's infected me. Putting up the outside lights is
always a miserable job. They're tangled, bulbs are missing and it
takes an hour of fiddling just to get them working. In my wisdom this
year I decided to put them up the day of our first big snow storm of
the winter. My fingers were frozen, strings of lights decided to stop
working just after I placed them at the very top of the tree. These
are the joys of Christmas. It was a frustrating afternoon but you
know once the job was done and the lights were sparkling in the trees,
that darn Christmas feeling came back again.

I probably shouldn't be feeling this way. The last few months
have been difficult and painful for a lot of people. More then ever
before, I've seen the toll this damn, never ending recession is taking
on peoples lives. Times are tough for everyone and many families are
just scraping by. Others are dealing with sickness in the family or
the death of a loved one. For many people there isn't a lot to be
happy about this holiday season.

Maybe that's why Christmas seems so special this year? Maybe
it's just the tonic we need to help us get through these difficult
times. After all, isn't the magic of Christmas partly about sharing,
and caring for others and hoping for a better future? I think it is.

Yes, I'm looking forward to the holiday this year. I guess the
spirit of Christmas has really worked it's magic on me. Who knows,
maybe those Christmas Card sleigh rides of my imagination will turn
into the real thing. I have to go. The tree still has to be
decorated and I think I hear sleigh bells.

Merry Christmas.