I have a nativity set I put out on my table every Christmas. The three wise men are pretty worn. One is missing a nose and one had his head broken off and glued back on but it is crooked and permanently bowed but that’s OK. The camel’s legs were broken off and replaced with short pencils that were painted brown. The donkey is missing an ear. Joseph is missing a hand but Mary and Baby Jesus are still in good condition.
I guess it isn’t very pretty anymore but it means something to me. It was new when my children were little. I’d set up the stable scene beneath the Christmas tree and they’d play with it every night, re-enacting the birth of Jesus. The colored lights on the tree above the stable were like stars in the sky. Christmas carols would be playing softly, “Away in a Manger, Silent Night and We Three Kings.”
Christmas was real. Jesus was real.
So much of Christmas is about memories, good, bad, happy and sad. It’s the one time of the year we not only recall our childhood, we actually become children again for awhile. Memories from ten, twenty, fifty years ago come back and we relive them as if they happened yesterday. It is wonderful if our memories are happy and we can recapture those precious moments again. If we had sad, troubled, lonely childhoods, Christmas is a painful reminder of what we missed. We tend to remember the best Christmas we ever had and the worst Christmas we ever had.
Most of us have keepsakes or rituals that make Christmas special to us and without them, something vital would be missing and it would seem a little less like Christmas.
Shorty was an old neighbor who came to Christmas dinner more times than I can count. He never brought any gifts because for one thing, Shorty never had any money. He barely earned a living raising goats and I suspected his animals usually ate better than he did. I never had to invite Shorty to Christmas dinner, he knew he had a lifelong invitation. Just seeing him walk through the door made your heart happy and put a smile on your face. He had a thousand stories and could make you laugh for hours. Eventually Shorty moved away and Christmas was never quite the same again.
If friends are like ornaments on a Christmas tree, Shorty would have been the star on top. I miss Shorty.
I miss the rituals I no longer have. I miss riding my horse in a Christmas snow. Christmas snow is whiter, softer and the flakes are more beautiful. They drift down from heaven and make a hush fall on the world, the world becomes silent, gentle and at peace.
I like sugar cookies shaped like Christmas trees and cookies shaped like bells with red icing on them. I like the festive way the stores are decorated for Christmas. I like watching the shoppers hurrying around carrying their bags filled with gifts and toys for their friends and family.
I don’t agree with people who say Christmas is too commercial and its the season of greed. I believe it is the time of year when we are more generous, kinder, happier and really closer to our true selves. What other time of the year will we walk three miles in a mall and go to ten stores to find the perfect shirt for Uncle Charlie or the perfect toy for a child? Yes, we usually spend more than we can afford but it isn’t out of greed, it is because we want to see our loved ones smile on Christmas morning when they open a special gift. It’s the way we say, “You are worth the effort and I love you.”
Of course, I watch a dozen versions of “A Christmas Carol” because it is my favorite story. Scrooge had a miserable, lonely childhood and it made him a bitter, cold-hearted miser. Everyone knows Scrooge was a miser and stingy with money but he was also stingy with love and spent his life alone. Most of us can identify with Scrooge. We might not be misers and stingy with money but we might be stingy with our time or love or miserly with our compliments. We might keep our true feelings locked in a vault, afraid to share them.
“A Christmas Carol” has everything in it, a sick child, a villain, lost love, redemption, a second chance and a happy ending.
If I could have a wish for Christmas, it would be that real life would be like “A Christmas Carol”. Sick children would be made well, lost loves could be found, there would be second chances and redemption and a happy ending for all of us.
For those of you who are ill, I pray for healing and good health. For you who are suffering financially, I pray for prosperity and abundance in your life. For those who are lonely, I pray you will find love and friendship.
I wish all of you a Merry Christmas and pray your New Year will be filled and overflowing with blessings.
Thank you for your Friendship, the greatest gift you could give me and God Bless Us...Every One!
Crying Wind is the author of Crying Wind and My Searching Heart, When the Stars Danced, and Thunder in Our Hearts, Lightning in Our Veins. All her books are available from Indian Life. Check catalog on page 18.
