What has Christmas become?

Essay:  Early Christmas

I have found that time has a way of getting away from me, the older I get.  Wasn’t it just yesterday that I carefully packed away all the Christmas ornaments and decorations, took down the outside wreaths and ribbons, and swept up the last of the pine needles?

Geez oh man, Christmas seems to arrive on or about the day after Halloween these days! Santa Claus is already everywhere and Thanksgiving is still around the corner. The stores in the malls have ordered abundantly to insure that after the holiday sales they can show a hefty bottom line at year’s end. The malls themselves put up their holiday signs and Christmas decorations increasingly early to entice us, knowing full well our propensity for overindulgence.

I find it distressing that Christmas has become, for most people, an “over” time. We overspend, we overeat, we over-party, and we end up trying to fit church and God -- the very reason there is a Christmas -- in between everything else on our overabundant holiday lists. About the only thing we don’t overdo in, is in taking the time to think about those less fortunate by dropping a few extra coins into the buckets when we see Santa’s helpers ringing their bells in front of the stores around town.

Please don’t misunderstand, everyone who knows me, knows that Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I can’t help myself. I get all swept up in the nostalgia and the warm and fuzzy feelings that surround this wondrous holiday.

Every year, I watch all the classic Christmas movies, crying as I watch The Gathering, laughing until I cry at Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and I think Barbara Stanwyck is hilarious in Christmas in Connecticut (the original, not the remake with Dyan Cannon). Then who could ever forget Jimmy Stewart in It‘s a Wonderful Life? And finally, at least for me, Christmas just wouldn’t be complete until I watch Irving Berlin’s White Christmas and help them sing the theme song, “White Christmas”.  Corny?  Guilty as charged.  Heck, I even play Christmas carols and Christmas music while I cook Thanksgiving dinner, much to the amusement of my family and friends.

I vow to try harder this year, though. I’m going to remember and truly celebrate who this wonderful holiday is named for and what it’s about.  I’m going to focus my ‘over’ time on the people I care most about, those who care most about me, and those who have never had a visit from Santa Claus -- and what about my bottom line?   The only bottom line I’m going to be concerned with is the one I sit on … and I don’t want that one to get any bigger ...