Now that we have the obligatory holiday greetings out if the way, I want to share my thoughts on such Holidays. Before I begin, I would like to say, I am not trying to be a Scrooge, so don't be angry, please.
First, the origin of the word "holiday". The word we use to describe a day of celebration stems from the term "holy days", which were days set aside in the religion of the Old Testament Israelites. These were days that were set aside for specific offerings, such as yearly blood sacrifices, and the releasing of the Scapegoat, both of which symbolized the washing away of the Isrealite's sins for another year. Nowadays, "holidays", means any day set aside for a day of rest, remembrance, or celebration. These don't necessarily have to be "holy" days, set aside and ordained by the church, but some are.
Many holidays that are celebrated around the world include Christian days, like Easter and Good Friday, Muslim holidays, such as Ramadan and Eid Al-Adha, Jewish holidays such as Lent and Hanukkah, and others, such as Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and national days of thanksgiving. The most popular holiday, though, is without a doubt Christmas.
Now, for the part where you can not openly hate me if you want: I don't like Christmas.
Hear me out, I love being able to celebrate the birth of my Savior with my family, but the older I get, the more commercialized it seems. I don't like that the last two months of the year are pretty much completely dedicated to shopping for things, for stuff, for this holiday. What is the point of that? You give somebody a thing they may or may not like, and get things that you may or may not like.
When I was little, I used to love getting presents, and toys, and stuff. I liked stuff. Now, being older, growing up, I look around and I see too much stuff. It's not just too much stuff in my home, in my community, but in my country. America is a country built upon a dream. The American Dream is based on the idea, that you know you are successful when you have obtained a certain amount of stuff, or a certain status, or you have reached a level of excess. And today's view of Christmas only emphasizes that. The more presents you give, the more compassionate you are, giving out of your excess, which is in reality, out of the massive amount of imaginary money given to you by the credit card company which then leads to a massive amount of debt. The more presents you get, the more stuff you have to use to flaunt your excess. That's all that Christmas seems to be about when I look around.
Of course, I must say, my parents have been very smart and careful of how they raised us children to view Christmas, and it is very family-centered. Every year since I can remember, we have gone to my mom's mother's house, then to my dad's parents house, every Christmas. Then we would leave the day after Christmas to either my mom's dad's house in Tennessee, or to her sister's house to see them. (I'm currently writing this at my aunt's house, by the way.)
The past few years, we have been trying to change the way we do Christmas, which has been working, lay off presents and give money or gift cards and a few actual presents instead. But, this year, I did something that I thought would have been detrimental to our family dynamic. I specifically asked for nothing. It was met better than I thought, but I was still given some stuff. I did ask though, that if people felt that they absolutely had to give me something, that it be money for my mission trip, and I did get a good amount of money, all of which will be going in my savings account.
Another thing I've noticed as I got older, is when I look around to the rest of the world, and I see the amount of excess we in America have compared to even other Industrialized countries, I truly do get appalled. No wonder the world sees Americans as fat, rude, and spoiled. That is exactly what we are. Here in America, Christmas is everywhere you look. I can't stand it, it aggravates me. We get so caught up in our revelry and expectations, that we don't look to the world around us, even in our own cities. I have noticed a lot more homeless people this year. They don't get Christmas, most of the time. Even though our spirit of giving and hospitality does seem to grow a little bit during the holiday season, it doesn't effect others the rest of the year. Why can't we just get over ourselves and be helpful and giving every day? It really bothers me when people get so caught up in themselves and they forget that most of the world has it a whole lot worse than they do. Of course, I tend to forget that, too, but that doesn't mean I don't think about it.
Presents and giving is good and stuff, but that's not what Christmas is about. Christmas is the day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. And while we give presents because God gave to us, the amount of commercialism that comes with the holiday makes me sick. God gave us His Son, nothing we could ever give to anyone else, and nothing we are given from another, could ever be as fulfilling and wonderful as the gift of Salvation and spiritual life.
Now that I have succeeded in making myself sound like a complete fool, I think I will be done. None of what I wrote will make sense, most likely, but maybe I'll do another post on more thoughts on holidays. If you have any suggestions of what holiday you want me to write about, please leave a comment on this post.
Celebrating the true Gift,
Emily E.
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