The Christmas Season is upon us

Don't get me wrong Christmas is a wonderful thing, if you take Christmas for the Religious Holiday it is and not the total spend factory it has become. Now I have to say I did enjoy Christmas when I was a kid, but I don't remember my parents going totally crazy with presents, and back then the prices on gifts weren't that bad, I mean electronics didn't really exist, unless your family bought you a television. The only electronics you would receive back then for the most part were perhaps a transistor radio (remember those) and whatever toy took batteries. Designer clothes weren't heard of. But no matter what we received from that fat guy that looked like me but wore a red suit, we also got a good deal of the True meaning of Christmas, the religion part. We did the Advent calendars, the Nativity, setting up the pieces in the order they arrived with scripture reading along with it, Jesus was the last guy to show up. My family wasn't overly religious as in fanatical, sure they went to church every week, as did I, (Usually followed by standing in the corner when I got home, I can still smell that paint smell to this day). But they did believe that Christmas was about Christ's birth, The Santa aspect was always done as a lesson on the Spirit of giving.

All that said, today, I have little use for the Holiday, the entire thing seems to revolve around getting what you can and as much as you can, and... I have a day off work. Of course, having no kids of my own does subtract a lot from the day. Seeing the wonderment on a child's face as they learn of the birth of Christ, or the joy of the gifts adds dimensions to the holiday. As a child I really liked the entire manger, birth of Christ celebration, as a child I could relate to all that, the rest of the story of his life was pretty much lost on me and to tell you the truth, the entire rest of the bible was never really written to entice children to read, (the begat's pretty much did it in for me, family trees that seem to go on forever).

I guess what I'm saying is that people have to teach their children the true meaning of Christmas, otherwise it just becomes a lesson in Greed, what can I get, and what can I show my friends I got that 
they didn't.

I'm probably not the one to be preaching religion here though, I stood in the corner so many times that when I got to be ten I was allowed to stay home with my brother instead of going to church. My parents said that I understood what church was about and I was old enough to make my own decision. Of course it could have been they were tired of putting up with my antics.

If it was an attempt at reverse psychology it failed royally and they didn't learn from it either. My parents told me later in life that if I was going to smoke then I would have to do it at home.....

So I lit one up...


They went Ballistic.

klay