Ho, Ho and Ho…
’Tis that time of the year again, when all spirits should be on the rise in anticipation of Christmas and the holidays. Since I am writing for the Cree, who are mainly Christian, I will stay regionally politically correct and say “Christmas” throughout this column. Since I’m not writing for the entire world, where other cultures have different belief systems, I don’t have to use the phrase “Holiday season” to be politically correct. But hey, I believe in Christmas, so I will write about that instead of “the holidays” – although I will touch on that too just to appease everyone.
Christmas often is one of the most precocious times for children, as they often do have visions and their dreams come true when that special gift is found under the Christmas tree. It is this time that is cherished on film and family albums are flipped through to remember past Christmases. Now digital formats and instantaneous reproduction and transmission make the world part of your Christmas as it is recorded for posterity and viewed on the television or e-mailed to everyone on your chatline list.
What I miss most is the Christmas cards. They were sent from people, friends and relatives who lived next door or across the country and then would be proudly displayed as reminders that your family was growing every year. Of course, when cameras were used and film sent out for months of processing (at least from up here), Christmas memories often cropped up at Easter time when you got your processed film back via Canada Post. But today, the picture is instant – gratifying everyone immediately and making Christmas even more magical.
Of course, there’s the big-ticket item or most-wished-for gift, that, when unwrapped, makes you think you’re in some Future Shop outlet because of all these screams of joy. What really turns my tonsils inside out are those little Swiss Army knives that have less than an inch of blade with all the kit and caboodles attached, and which are allowed to pass through security at an airport. Sometimes, Christmas can be a letdown for those who don’t receive what they wished for, but they should be reminded that it’s more of a season for giving. And since no one gave them anything close to what they imagined, it was probably because they were in the receiving mode.
So what does Santa have to do with all this? Well, it is religiously correct to celebrate Santa, since there was a Sinterklaas. It is correct to get a tree, since it is green. It is correct to put up lights galore to help save the economy. It is correct to warm up with some spirits beside a wood-stove to save your money instead of using precious greenhouse-gas-emission-emitting heating oil. It is correct to shop like crazy to bail out the retailers. It is correct to party on in order to boost the morale of the people at large in these troubling times.
And for everyone else: Light your candles for Hanukah, pray to Buddha for warmer weather, make Muhammed proud and keep the peace, ask the Creator for guidance. For all those guys who need bailouts: take some time off and get E.I. to save the company money. And for all those who have no religious beliefs to celebrate at this time of the year, enjoy your holidays. For the holiday revelers, take a taxi from the office party please!