Joe thanks for the insight dad and I really felt that you boys were kind of mad at us because we really did not have a lot of money but you are right we always had a strong family unity thank you so much for your insight it is times like this we as parents feel rewarded thanks mom
8:39 AM
Here it is, yet another holiday season approaches and we either find ourselves silently complaining of the hassles and irritations that are associated with the commercialization of our culture, or gleefully going about basking in the holiday spirit. I find myself somewhere in between.
I find myself yearning for the magical days of childhood, when life was less complicated, and I could appreciate christmas for what it should be, not what it is. It seems that in our american capitalistic society worth is deemed by how much one is willing to spend on a present. The guy really loves the girl when he buys her a new diamond. Toy companies want people to think that the only way one may truly love their children is to give them everything and anything they ask for. I remember cold winter mornings of my adolescence talking with my dad, and hearing him express his sorrow for "not giving us a good christmas." I always reassured him that, in fact, he did give us a good christmas, and that we didn't need material goods to be happy. I think that this remark made him happy, but I think that he attributed most of it to the motivations of a good son to make his father happy.
What he didn't know is that I truly felt that way. Of course, every teenager would have loved to have gotten everything on his wishlist for Christmas, and I am no exception, but I was old enough to recognize the things that I did have. For every present I did not receive, I had good conversations with my parents, for every empty space under the christmas tree, I had a laugh with my brothers.
Christmas time has many levels of irony. Christmas is purported to be to celebrate the birth of the son of God, but in fact, was probably started as a continuation of pagan celebrations commemorating the winter solstice. We celebrate the birth of the Only Begotten of the Father, by (at least in America) purchasing extravagant gifts or engaging in affectatious display. How interesting that a what is supposed to be a spiritual holiday evolved from a heathen astronimical celebration, and has evolved into a spastic orgy of consumption.
It is my hope that this Christmas season that we can transend all the irony, that we can motivate ourselves to celebrate Christmas for, not what it is, but for what it is supposed to be. I hope that all of us can take time to reflect on the birth of our Savior, and the blessings of freinds and family. For me that is what Christmas time is all about.
"Holiday Ruminations"
2 Comments -
Ok, so I may be your wife, bit that was really good. :) - Nat
5:33 PM
Joe thanks for the insight dad and I really felt that you boys were kind of mad at us because we really did not have a lot of money but you are right we always had a strong family unity thank you so much for your insight it is times like this we as parents feel rewarded thanks mom
8:39 AM