Every year around this time I get that holiday kind of feeling. You know it as well as I do. When I run into someone in the street I don't just quietly pass. I say, "Oh, excuse me, pardon me". Maybe you see someone with their hands full of presents and you open the door for them. Or an old woman needs help getting a bottle of apple cider off the top shelf at the grocery store and you're tall enough to oblige. This time of year, the holiday season, we're all a little nicer, we all think a second longer about the people around us.
I'm not a religious person, I'm not even a particularly spiritual person, and the Christmas mythology is special to me only because it's the mythology that I was raised on. Jesus, Kings and Wise Men, shepherds, these are the colors and themes of my childhood Christmas, but these are not what make the holidays for me.
The holiday season is my favorite time. I spend so much time each year reconciling the good that I know man is capable of with the evil that man perpetrates and at times I feel exhausted. But for a few months each year we can all treat each other not like brothers maybe, but like cousins that you haven't seen in a few years. For a few months each year you're nice damn it, it's the holidays, and you treat people decently.
In recent years Christmas has become a battleground. It's Merry Christmas and if it's not Merry Christmas it's Happy Holidays and you're obviously some dirty communist communications major who hates Christmas. We might disagree on the main character of the play, but we can all agree on the theme. Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Men, and let's just love each other for a few minutes more. It is Merry Christmas. And It is Happy Holidays.
I created this blog for those people who love the holidays. Whether religious or secular, spiritual or humanist this is a place to celebrate the small miracle of human kindness. If your love for your fellow man and woman has compelled you to do anything, no matter how small, please share it so that we can all see that the ties that bind us are so much stronger than the ones that don't.
Christmas is for Everyone. The Holidays are for everyone. Share your stories. Share your love. And to everyone here, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!
