Have you ever noticed each year the Christmas decorations and Christmas aisles go up earlier and earlier at the retail stores? Don't get me wrong here - I'm not trying to be a grinch but, I guess a part of me is. Christmas has gotten a lot of publicity the last few years. Our kids are the ones who are getting very mixed messages. You have your private parochial schools who will not allow Santa to be mentioned at the school during the holidays. Then you have your public schools who want to take the reason out of the season - so you can't mention Jesus. While I will keep my religious beliefs to myself, I'm tired of both sides taking it all to the extremes. It is just like all the politics we dealt with this year - one extreme or the other. This country cannot be moderate about anything any longer. So our kids are pushed and pulled and not given the option of believing in both. In fact, when my son was in Kindergarten, his teacher took it upon herself to tell him there is no Santa Claus. Yes, I was very angry because she robbed my son of a little piece of innocence that I wanted him to hold on to for a little while longer. Well, let me tell you, I don't think Santa Claus and Jesus are all that different! If you stop and think about it, both are about giving of yourself, having a happy heart and spirit, and thinking about someone besides yourself and what you have for a change - but, that's just my opinion I guess.
So back to the point I started to make with this I guess, Christmas like Valentine's Day has become nothing but a commercial venture and retail opportunity for many. It is about the latest Ipod, the fastest gaming system, the biggest toys and all the things that take hours to assemble when the kid would rather play with the box. We skip from Halloween (which many parochial schools also prohibit as a pagan ritual - but Easter isn't seen that way with the bunnies and eggs- whole other post) to Christmas. So my question is what about Thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is now the holiday squished between candy and Christ. Thanksgiving is about our forefathers who celebrated moving to this country and their freedom of living in a land that they could choose their religion and belief and not be punished for it. It is about freedom of speech and opinion and the right to express those things freely. Thanksgiving is about being thankful for the things you have and are blessed with in life and not about what else you can add to that stash. You can get lots of money, you can get lots of toys (both grown up and child toys) but the truth is when you leave this earth - they do you no good. But the things we should be thankful for this time of year - the love of our family, the friends who comfort us the other 364 days of the year, the job that allows us to feed our family and put a roof over our head - are typically forgotten about. Even on the day of Thanksgiving, too many people focus on the turkey and the football and not the meaning of the holiday and where the tradition came from.
We wonder what is wrong with your youth - why they expect more and more and don't seem thankful for the things we have. Well, DUH! What do we expect them to do when we as adults don't teach them to be thankful for what we have, we don't teach them to give to others who are less fortunate, we don't teach them to give of themselves in both their time and service - its easier to throw a little money at the problem. I'm proud to say that we as a family will be making some food and taking it ourselves downtown to the homeless that reside in the park outside the big church. I'm proud to say that we will hand dip them food and give it to those who wonder each day where their next meal will come from. I'm proud to say that my children see this as something they should do and not just something they are expected to do. It is important that they understand it - that they need to give to those who don't have the things they do or the opportunities that they do. I may not be able to change the whole world but, I can make a small difference in the world I live in and if I instill that in my kids and they instill that in their kids then I will have paid it forward. I remind my children that there is a Santa Claus in all of them. It is a spirit of giving and I won't let anyone or anything take that from them - not the commercialism of the season, not the far right, not anything!
So as the Christmas parties and gifts come your way this year, I just ask that you take a minute and be thankful for the things you are surrounded with because there is always someone out there who is less fortunate and would trade places with you in a heartbeat. And, to those of you in my life, I want you to know that I am blessed to have each and every one of you and I hope you find your inner Santa Claus and let it out. Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!
with love
Pandora
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