Christmas for 2019 has come and gone. Wow, that was quick. I know that some folks enjoy an extended Christmas season. Some based on their religious preferences enjoy the Christmas season on into the first week of January. But not at our house. The boss lady, who loves Christmas and enjoys every minute of preparing for the big day is completely done with it by the end of Christmas Day. By 4:00 pm on the day after Christmas there was no sign of Christmas anywhere in our home. The tree was disassembled and boxed, the decorations were all packed up, and all the furniture was returned to the original locations. So, I guess that is the end of Christmas. But does it really have to be?
At the risk of sounding sappy, there is a lot of the Christmas Season and the Christmas Spirit we should all consider extending into the weeks and months ahead. In other words, all year around. Maybe it was just my perspective, or maybe I wasn’t paying close attention, but it seemed to me that a lot of the rhetoric and hate speech lessened during the season. We certainly have enough of that going around during the entire year to last well into the next year without adding to it. I have seen and heard enough political hate, racial hate, and religious hate to last me the rest of my days. I think the redundancy of the hate messages is boring. You don’t like Donald Trump, or you don’t like white people, or you don’t like black people, or you don’t like Muslims or Catholics, okay, I get it. You have told me, repeatedly. But I can assure you that the repetitiveness of your message is not very likely to change mine, or anyone else’s mind. In fact, I believe the opposite is true. The harder one pushes the harder the other pushes back. It is just that simple.
Also, would it not be nice to extend the courtesies and friendliness of the Christmas season all year long? Obviously, we will not wish folks a Merry Christmas all year, but we can extend a friendly greeting to one another all year around. When you pass someone on the street, in the hallways at work, or in the grocery store, greet them. Greet them with friendship in your voice and mean it. I have seen people glance at one another and say “hey” avert their gaze and move on. I guess that is better than nothing, but is that the best we can do? Did it not feel good when you saw someone and wished them Merry Christmas with a smile on your face, and they did the same in kind? Didn’t you walk away from that encounter feeling just a little better? The words do not have to be Merry Christmas, but the sincerity and warm smile can be the same, and the good feelings that follow will also be there. Give it a try, it’s free. I’ll start; “Hi! How are you? I hope you are doing well. Take care, I hope to see you soon”. It only took a couple of seconds to type that out so I am confident it would take even less time to say it. Now it is your turn.
I did not mean to sound preachy when I started to write this. In fact, when I started to write this the oly thing I knew for sure was to report that the tree was down and packed away. So, if I came across too preachy, I am sorry. Trust me when I say my intentions were sincere. But since this is the final entry to the Townehouse for this year, you have all next year to get over it. So, as we head into the last year of the second decade of the 21st century, may your spirits stay high and your moods stay elevated. See you all next year!
Those are my thoughts, what are yours?
Feel free to comment, like, share, agree or disagree with this post. Please consider a free subscription. Options to like and subscribe can be found elsewhere on the page. Thank you for reading the Townehouse,
This material may be published, broadcast, or redistributed. In fact, I encourage it.