The Spirit of Christmas….

We all know that the Holiday Season is to celebrate the birth of Christ, with this in mind we are to reflect upon our Lord. How do we accomplish this? Many of us gather with our families and feast on copious amounts of food and deserts, and typically follow through with spoiling our children with a ridiculous amount of gifts from not only us as parents but from good ole Saint Nick as well. We also spend money on gifts for our bosses fellow colleagues and neighbours. How many of the gifts that we buy for others are out of obligation to appease the “correct political” pressure? So how do we stay true to our faith while gorging on holiday gifts, alcohol and feel good snacks and treats?

I struggle with the concept of Christmas. I every year look forward to setting up my lights and decorating my tree, and even spending the holiday season with family and good friends. My oldest daughter in particular prepares for Christmas starting the day after Halloween by watching her favourite Christmas movie Elf, every single day non stop. Christmas Eve is usually spent with my side of the family, then back at our house to open a gift before bed….. We used to go to Midnight Mass, then it became every other year and now…..

Last year Ashley who by no fault of her own is a Christmas nut, told me Christmas morning she felt depressed. Christmas was finally here and now done. It was over; the hype the pressure the excitement gone. I wondered how this could be possible since we still had plenty of visiting to do and celebrations right through until New Years. I thought long and hard about the comments she made. I realized that she in her own way was telling me that it was the Christmas spirit she lost. The true meaning of Christmas. Not the gifts, the eating, the visiting but the real meaning of humanity at Christmas time.

Christmas for many people is a very depressing time of year perhaps family issues, loneliness and of course poverty could very well be contributing factors. The idea of not being able to buy someone you love a gift or provide a meal…is heart breaking. We all shop and notice the Salvation Army donation pots; we see the toy drives in every store. We hear at church, at school and on TV that we need to donate to the less fortunate. Many of us drop our loonies and toonies in the pot and feel quite noble for doing so and yet still many families feel the hard ship at Christmas. The very pride that men and women experience watching their children open gifts on Christmas morning is robbed when they are not able to provide a lavish Christmas. Children that still believe in Santa wonder if they were bad and not deserving of a gift from him.

It is my belief that each one of us is responsible as adults to ensure that Santa is real. Not just real for our own children but for all children. That is to say that Christ lives through us especially during the Christmas holidays. It is our responsibility to serve our communities. The cliché statement it takes a village to raise a child holds true at this time of year. Even though we should be donating to our food banks through out the year, but at Christmas is when we should give the most. This is the time of year when the haves and have nots stand out the most. Educators will tell you that after Christmas they hear directly from the kids about what they did and received during the holidays, and for many there is an embarrassment in sharing.

Here in Windsor the soup kitchen may close because there is not enough money to support it. The wait lists for Christmas hampers over 3000 families in need. Before you think of your negative thoughts of people on welfare, and what have you…..just stop for a moment and think about the kids in those households…. Then think of your children.. I am not in any way trying to guilt any one. I am just being real. I have three teenage daughters that have every damn bell and whistle that money can buy, and I am guilty of making sure they have what they want more than what they need.

So my challenge to you this year is this, instead of buying your boss a bottle of wine or buying your colleagues’ small gifts or adult family members a gift this year. Instead buy a gift for a child, and when exchanging gifts with family or friends or secret Santa at work, write in their card Boy aged 12, one gift under the tree. If they are offended by this gift, they didn’t deserve one to begin with. You and I and every other adult I know will survive without getting a damn pair or socks or a Tim Horton’s Gift card. I am certain of it. Last year I worked every single day the month of December filling hampers and wrapping gifts, I also delivered hampers to homes that I would not wish my worst enemy to have to live in. I was and still continue to be humbled by the tears that I met at the doors of the recipients’ of our gestures. To see a man cry is life changing.

The real meaning of Christmas is Christ, what ever your faith is, Christ is who we are and choose to be. I am hoping that you will do something in the spirit of Christmas this year. It does not take much to make a child smile; you know this as you have children yourself. Find a church or an organization that you can drop off an unwrapped gift or book and know that you are personally keeping the spirit of Christmas alive.  The Salvation Army on Walker Road in Windsor would love to accept your donation.

Merry Christmas
~Christine~