And This is Christmas
And so, this is Christmas. And what have we done? Another year over and another begun.
The words to this song will ring through my head over this next week as we step into Christmas and the New Year. This is a time for bright lights, cookies, presents, holiday movies, spiked hot cocoa or eggnog, fighting with family, playing games, or even caroling.
And for some, a time of immense loneliness and grief. The holidays aren’t always cheerful and bright, some people want to get through them as quick as they can, just hoping to survive. I get it. I’ve been there many times.
The thing about Christmas that always seems to strike me and resonate with me is that this is the time of year for forgiveness and welcoming others. The time where we sit in our humanity and realize that we are utterly alone and nothing without each other. And with each other, there is joy and life.
And for those Christians out there who recognize Christmas as the time of Jesus’ birth, it is a time of immense hope. That hope permeates everything, whether or not you are a Christian, you can feel it. You feel happier, lighter, like the problems of the world are on pause. The political unrest and distrust in one another, the killings and the pain, the injustice in the world pause for just a moment. It can start again on December 26, but on December 25, everything can just stop.
This is a time when it seems like it’s almost possible to reach out to those in your life that caused you hurt to try and mend the relationship. That maybe if they respond, it all can be okay again. A time when miracles happen. After all, the Grinch’s heart grew three times on Christmas Day and Ralphie got his Red Ryder shotgun.
We don’t want to stop believing that people can’t be good or that everything will turn out right. This is Christmas and what have we done?
We have had a shit few years, going through this pandemic. No one has had it easy. I have made some terrible choices this past year, many of which I am still reaping the consequences from. Others, I am still learning from so that I don’t repeat in the future. I have lost people that I deeply cared about and still grieve over.
What have I done? I’ve been a depressed, anxious, stressed out ball of misery which wasn’t entirely my fault, but healing from it is. I am trying to make choices to do better, or really, to accept myself for where I’m at no matter what that looks like. Accepting is hard and moving on is even harder.
This time of year expects more out of people than any other holiday. It expects us to attend family gatherings, exchange gifts even if we can’t afford it, cook elaborate meals, attend Christmas services even if we aren’t religious. It expects us to make resolutions and changes. But no holiday should do that. That’s too much to put on ourselves, especially if we aren’t ready or don’t want to change.
Yes, Christmas gives us a chance to make those resolutions and an excuse to be with family and a reason to reach out to people we haven’t talked to in a year, but that doesn’t mean we have to. We don’t have to ignore who we are in order to make others happy.
This is still a time for forgiveness, for miracles, for hope and joy, but it’s also a time for peace during grief and pausing during the craziness to say, “I can’t do that. It’s too much.” And ultimately, Christmas says in return, “You are loved and you are valued because of who you are. You don’t have to do anything to prove it.”
And so, this is Christmas. I hope you have fun.