Merry Christmas!
I want to take a moment and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. As I write happy holidays, it feels a bit bland and incredibly PC, which I am not. I was raised in the Christian tradition, and all of my life at this time of year I have said Merry Christmas because to my mind this is the time of year that we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But not everyone in this world shares my beliefs. People of the Jewish faith celebrate Hanukkah, and then there is Kwanzaa, a celebration that was invented in the late sixties in an attempt to give Black people a holiday that allowed them to embrace their African roots. But in the end, each of these are just ideas that large groups of people have decided to embrace. Those of us that share a certain set of beliefs gather around our trees, our kinaras, our menorahs and reinforce those shared beliefs and pass them on to the next generation.
As I teach the Christian traditions to my children, I also strive to teach them to keep their minds open to the possibility that there are other ideas and ways of thinking out there. I try to teach them that just because a large group of people believe something it does not necessarily make it true.
For me the most important part of the Christmas season is being together as a family. Because I’m now divorced, I must split this holiday with my girls. They wake up at home with me, open presents and have a big Christmas breakfast and then they hang around playing with their toys until its time to get dressed to go to daddy’s house. I drop them off with him and usually spend the rest of the day alone. Co-parenting is not easy, and as I pull away from his house I get a pang of regret that we are no longer a big, happy, intact family. But then I am reminded of why I divorced him and the regret is washed away with relief.
My wish is for everyone to be happy–to make good choices that make you happy. Make sure that those you love know how you feel about them, and embrace the simple joy of this blessed season.
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