Hope for the Holidays

So I must say, normally around this time of year, that is of course the time directly following Hanukkah Birthday (the entire month of November) until shortly thereafter January, I generally feel all around gloomy.  Some would say that it is the "Holiday Humbugs" or "Seasonal Sadness." I refer to it as basic depression.  Growing up in California, I think Christmas is a little taken for granted.  Sure it's all about traditions of digging around in the garage for the Christmas boxes, going to Albertsons to pick out a tree, hanging those special ornaments, yelling at your sister to reach a little bit higher so you can get that strand of lights just perfect completely unforgiving of her 5 years younger and therefore 1 foot shorter self... and of course there is the baking, the delivery of cookies to neighbors and your local Holiday Market checker.... but despite the holiday traditions, there still tends to be something about Christmas that just feels so commercialized....

I guess I most realized it this year as I was standing at WalMart looking at the "Hi-Ho Cherry-O game" special edition and my husband says "What's Hi-Ho Cherry-O".... What is Hi-Ho Cherry-O I thought to myself!?  Are you kidding me?  Who doesn't know what Hi-Ho Cherry-O is!  That's like saying you don't know what Trouble is or Aggravation...It was at that moment, that I realized how can you possibly purchase a child a Hi-Ho Cherry-O game when they probably already have their own pet tiger on XBOX kinect that mimics their every movement....or Dance Dance Revolution 5 million.... Really?  And then I thought, who wants to play a stupid cherry counting game when they could be fighting villains with Epic Mickey? And then of course, there is the prospect of buying them a toy.  What child doesn't LOVE to get a new toy?  But the chances of buying them a toy they already have is so high due to the instant gratification factor that plagues America... that feeling of "I can't wait until Christmas to ask for...." is no more...

This blog is not intended to blame the gaming industry for ruining Christmas or WalMart for their "falling prices" that gives parents the ease of purchasing basically anything their child desires at below than reasonable prices (thanks to Chinese sweatshops, but that's another blog in itself) right now... So much changes in one lifetime.... Maybe these are just the feelings that come with growing old.  I can only imagine how our grandparents must feel.  They have seen everything from an AM/FM radio invented to the 4G network... I don't know, it's like in the Polar Express when no one can hear the bell ringing anymore... 

Despite all of it, this year I must say, I have felt much more of the Christmas Spirit then I have in years....which is especially odd since I don't get to spend it with all of my family.  I am glad that I didn't sacrifice my traditions because of the "poor economy" or the desperate need to save money.  I am happy to to hear the UPS guy say to me "At least you still buy presents and mail them, everyone else just sends gift cards if anything at all."  I don't know about you, but I love the feeling of receiving a package.  I love the unknown something that hides beneath that brown cardboard and the excited feeling that it gives me. I love that someone thought of ME.  That they saw something or made me something because they love me or because they miss me or just because they were thinking of me.  And even more, I love giving that same feeling to others. I have focused on MAKING myself feel the Christmas spirit.  I have purposely immersed myself into Christmas.... Every weekend following Thanksgiving I have gone to a Christmas Craft show, baked, wrapped presents, mailed newsletters, decorated, witnessed what 4.2 million Christmas Lights really looks like and forced myself to BE JOLLY despite the Washington Post headlines of falling housing markets, rising unemployment, continuous questions of the war in Afghanistan, tax reform...  

And that is why I still have Hope for the Holidays.  That despite the commercializing of Christmas, the constant bad news, and "desperate times," that the basic concepts of giving, love, sharing, and joy are still prevalent in people and therefore in the holiday season.... The Christmas Spirit resides in all of us, because the Lord has made it that way... and sometimes it may be hard to see it and it may be hard to feel it, but when someone helps you with your groceries, or delivers cookies to your office, or comes by your house just to say hello, you know it's there...when your child tells you a crazy story, or your significant other rambles on and on and on about what seems like nothing important other then the desire to just be sharing it with you, or when a memory of a loved one lost pops into your thoughts and makes you smile, it's there.  We just have to make ourselves see it.  We have to make ourselves feel it and believe it. 

We have to find a way to hear that Christmas bell ring.... Whatever it takes because without it... the holiday season is just extra work, too much money spent, and a hassle... before you know it, you're looking in the mirror and seeing Scrooge staring right back at you.  Fight the urge to be a Scrooge, mail a Christmas card today.... go on, do it.  Go out, buy a card, a real stamp, take it to the post office, wish your postman a Merry Christmas and thank him or her for their hard work this holiday season.  Then go home, make yourself a cup of Hot Cocoa and watch everyone's favorite George Baily from the old Baily and Loan.... Feel that Christmas spirit when everyone comes by to help George....And be happy when Clarence gets his wings...Go to sleep hoping that when you wake up, everything will be covered in a white blanket...You'll be glad you did.