Holiday Cheer (or lack thereof)

Bah humbug!  It seems to be all I'm hearing these days.  Ok, maybe no one is actually quoting Dickens, but so many people are complaining about how much they hate the holidays.   Come on people, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

I think a lot of it comes from the overwhelming amount of commercialism that's become attached to the holiday season.  Each year there's more and more pressure to give "the perfect gift"; bigger, better, faster, cooler.  I don't remember there being so many commercials for high ticket items like cars and electronics when I was a kid. And I don't know anyone who ever opened their front door on Christmas morning and had a $70,000 car with a big red bow on it waiting in the driveway.

I've long used the phrase that "my family put the 'fun' in dysfuntional".  Yet somehow, during the holidays, we were somewhat normal.  My sisters baked and cooked in the kitchen with my mom, my brother would take leave from the Navy to be home, my other brother (whom we rarely saw) would come over all dressed in a 3-piece suit with his lovely wife.  Aunts and uncles, cousins and neighbors visited.  My dad would be there Christmas morning to open presents with us.  There was one year that my dad traveled all through the night to get there before I woke up.  I went to bed crestfallen that he wasn't there.  As soon as I woke up, instead of checking my Christmas stocking as I normally would, I raced to my parents' bed and was amazed to see my father sleeping there.  It was a Christmas miracle!  I don't remember any present that I received that year.

Saying "Merry Christmas" to someone would never be thought of as offensive or politically incorrect.  I am Hindu.  I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and my best friend in high school and for many years after is Muslim.  We all celebrated the holidays together.  It wasn't a religious holiday for us, but it was sacred.  It was the time for enjoying food and telling stories and shopping and ice skating in Rockefeller Center.  It was the time for being with friends and family.  

Years ago I read something where Caroline Kennedy spoke about her Christmases as a child.  She didn't remember the toys under the tree.  She remembered the walnuts and oranges that her mother filled their stockings with.  It was a Victorian tradition that had been followed in her family for many generations.  What she remembered the most was that after all the presents had been opened, the family sat around cracking walnuts and peeling oranges as they laughed and talked.  

This Christmas, don't drive yourself crazy searching for the perfect material gift.  It doesn't exist.  Focus on creating a perfect memory with your loved ones.