Once it was called Advent. The product of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parochial school, I was sure that was the name of the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
We were extra careful to be good so that Santa would bring us a gift or two. There were Christmas pageants at school, store windows decorated to charm the passers-by, carols over the loud speakers and Santas on every street corner. The words “Merry Christmas” were on everyone’s lips.
But, things change, and in my now wider world and in deference to fellow citizens who don’t celebrate Christmas, the word to describe the season was simplified to holiday season.
OK, I can see the logic here. Christians celebrate their holiday, Jews, Hanukkah and those of African heritage would, of late, celebrate Kwanza. It isn’t Holy Day or Christmas, it’s the holidays.
Not as specific for me, but OK.
Last week I learned from both print and electronic media that the term “holiday season” is now passé. It is now “gift giving season.”
The mad dash to exchange gifts for the purpose of exchanging gifts has become so entrenched in our economy that Wall Street trembles at the results of retail sales during the days after Thanksgiving. Will Santa be replaced by a Wall Street boss?
Will children, instead of trying to be good, accuse their parents of economic treason if they don’t receive their portion of the season’s booty?
Is this yet another sign of time passing and my mind holding fast to comfortable, old fashioned concepts? Maybe.
There is a faded card, decorated with tiny finger prints, misplaced stickers and a carefully printed greeting on my refrigerator door. It is one of my treasures, a gift from my child at Christmas and more precious than any trinket a store might sell. Here is the answer to my quandary. This care, crafted and given with love, is the answer. Yes, the letter of the season has changed, but most certainly not the spirit.
It is a reasonable question to ask how one can hold the concept of Christmas spirit in one hand and the knowledge that there are terrible wars killing civilians in Ukraine and Gaza in the other. As always, we can’t turn our backs on what we can do with what we have, where we are.
The local churches are setting up their giving trees, inviting the congregations to share the ‘stuff’ of the season with those who are in need. Mailboxes are full of requests for support for good causes and social media extols the value of similar appeals. The volunteers who help staff our local hospitals, food pantries, soup kitchens and such are year around examples of the Christmas spirit. Of particular note, from my point of view, are the many animal rescues that depend on our generosity for their existence. Spay and Neuter Syracuse, Friends Forever, Helping Hounds, the ASPCA, Wanderer’s Rest, etc. are worthy of your consideration.
I can complain about the commercialism of the season, while understanding that the very meaning that I treasure is not exclusive to the end of the year. Legos and gaming are fun! A giant screen TV is a luxury, but the true meaning of Christmas, the belief in the gift of self and all that entails, is still alive and well and lives in many places, in many hearts.
As Tiny Time would say, “God bless us, every one!”
