Dear God,
Christmas is less than 10 days away, and I am yet to enter the holiday spirit. The world must sound of the triumph of the Lord risen again; it must be transcended with contagious joy. And that just is not happening for me; the sky is overcast like it's mourning, and I haven't encountered even the slightest breath of fresh air in more than 24 hours.
My family hasn't done much to cultivate the spirit of Christmas ever, but I'm not going to let that get to me. It's going to be Christmas music everywhere, and true reflections of what this time of the year means to me. The Christmas tree isn't just going to be a lanky eyesore; it's actually going to mean something this year.
The problem is just that after all these years of immersion in society's ideas and my family's inattention, I just don't know what Christmas really means to me. Society has always told me that Christmas is about snow, Santa, and presents and I believed it(even though I've spent most of my life in the tropics, am scared of Santa, and have rarely received Christmas presents). My parents have told me that it's about neat, fancy, new clothes, and listening attentively to the priest as he goes through a Christmas mass, and I've followed (even though my new clothes are usually scratchy and/or far too distracting, and all I ever did during Christmas mass was stare vacantly at the priest as he went through is meaningless words and actions).
I know now that Christmas is not about beautiful clothes on my squirming body or dainty presents under the tackily decorated tree; it isn't about a certain sled-borne gentlemen who squeezes through chimneys that are too small for him or even about going to mass because it is an obligation.
I know what Christmas is not, but I don't know what it is.
This next week is going to be my Christmas boot camp; I will find my holiday spirit and I will ground it on the truth.
Cheers.
Christmas is less than 10 days away, and I am yet to enter the holiday spirit. The world must sound of the triumph of the Lord risen again; it must be transcended with contagious joy. And that just is not happening for me; the sky is overcast like it's mourning, and I haven't encountered even the slightest breath of fresh air in more than 24 hours.
My family hasn't done much to cultivate the spirit of Christmas ever, but I'm not going to let that get to me. It's going to be Christmas music everywhere, and true reflections of what this time of the year means to me. The Christmas tree isn't just going to be a lanky eyesore; it's actually going to mean something this year.
The problem is just that after all these years of immersion in society's ideas and my family's inattention, I just don't know what Christmas really means to me. Society has always told me that Christmas is about snow, Santa, and presents and I believed it(even though I've spent most of my life in the tropics, am scared of Santa, and have rarely received Christmas presents). My parents have told me that it's about neat, fancy, new clothes, and listening attentively to the priest as he goes through a Christmas mass, and I've followed (even though my new clothes are usually scratchy and/or far too distracting, and all I ever did during Christmas mass was stare vacantly at the priest as he went through is meaningless words and actions).
I know now that Christmas is not about beautiful clothes on my squirming body or dainty presents under the tackily decorated tree; it isn't about a certain sled-borne gentlemen who squeezes through chimneys that are too small for him or even about going to mass because it is an obligation.
I know what Christmas is not, but I don't know what it is.
This next week is going to be my Christmas boot camp; I will find my holiday spirit and I will ground it on the truth.
Cheers.
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