Merry Christmas
It’s that time of the year when we’re supposed to be merry and happy. That can be something of a challenge considering that we’re also supposed to travel hither and yon to be with family. Of course, if we actually liked our family, we wouldn’t have moved away, so for some the jollity is forced.
Fewer and fewer Christmas cards are arriving in the post. Perhaps this is because there are fewer people feeling seasonal enough to send cards, or because the postal system has priced mass mailings – of all but junk – beyond normal reach.
When people do extend the good wishes of the season, it is more often neutered. Merry Christmas has been replaced on a lot of lips by Happy Holidays. My family hasn’t been religious going back a coupla generations but we always celebrated Christmas, mostly merrily. It wasn’t about the Christian god per se, but about decorating the tree and singing carols and giving gifts.
One of the popular alternatives for those who have a multi-cultural distribution list is Peace on Earth, which saying seems to offend very few people, at least overtly. Ironically, the notion has never seemed further away.
My father turned 85 this week. He lives in Massachusetts and has been getting exercise shoveling snow from the driveway, which he’s sensible enough to have plowed, to the kitchen door. It always seemed unfair to his children that he should have had to gone through life with his birthday so close to Christmas.
Darling Denise and I met on Christmas Day 2004. We will continue our tradition of celebrating with brunch amidst the redwoods in Big Sur, and a walk on the beach, if it isn’t pouring, as is forecast.
There will be no exchange of gifts this year. It’s less the result of the corrupted economy than having acquired most every thing we need, and basking in the ever-growing joy of having found each other.
We offer our sincerest wishes that more of the world know may more such loving in the coming year.
Merry Christmas. I'm Tony Seton.
©2008 SetonnoteS
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