Grown-up Christmas

Christmas is for children, at least the Americanized version we all celebrate. Cocoa Cola Santas bring xboxes and Barbies to good little boys and girls who make the "nice" list. Parents spend months planning and spending to make Christmas merry for all. We bake, clean, cook, wrap, decorate, and repeat until December 26th when life returns to normal. Christmas makes shopping more difficult as well as dieting, sleeping, and budgeting. I'm not overtly trying to be a humbug, but seriously Christmas is much less magical when you grow up.

I do know the reason for the season, several large Jesus billboards in my area remind me of that, but no one seems to celebrate that aspect of it anymore. We don't even know if Jesus was born in December for goodness sakes! So, next Christmas on out I am going a to take a less beaten path when it comes to December 25th. I am going to teach my child about Saint Nicholas and try to find things that glorify his life and not line the pocketbooks of the folks at Walmart.

I want Ham to learn something from this day, not just gain a whole lot of junk made in China (more on that later). I intend to make Christmas about giving and giving back to the community. I have over a year to dream up some service projects and volunteering to get us in the real spirit. Hanukkah will be celebrated as well, though it never seemed to gain the commercial appeal that Christmas did. The whole story of suffering doesn't really make for good claymation films.

Growing up mostly Jewish has helped me gain some perspective in this mess that we call Christmas. I hope that next year when Ham is old enough I can use this time of year to teach him rather than appease him. I do not want to end up like so many moms I know spending hundreds of dollars on gifts that never satiate their children. We will celebrate the joy of helping those who have less and giving back to our wonderful community for all it gives to us.

I hope all of you grown-ups find some real joy this Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus. Remember to take a step back and think about who Saint Nicholas really was and why we celebrate Christmas this time of year. I wish you all a warm and joyful holiday.

Beth