What Is Your Christmas Quotient

Christmas means so many different things, whether you be a kid or adult, living in the frost belt or the sun belt, and even if you celebrate it or not. Christmas can be real gift or a real pain, and often both.

I must state that I lament the frantic shopping and crass commercialism that gets worse every year, as sales continue to rise annually.Profits must be made. But I also understand how the inner child emerges at Christmas, and that presents are a big part of that. We’re all a product of the “Me Generation,” right? (This is a defining characteristic of Gen Xers, Millennials or Baby Boomers.) Presents and pecuniary gains define Christmas for most. George Harrison wrote about it in I Me Mine 50 years ago.

I guess A Charlie Brown Christmas represents my perspective. I love watching it every year as it defines what Christmas should mean. But it also makes the case for Christmas swag, as Sally Brown said; “All I want what’s coming to me. All I want is my fair share!” Everyone want’s their piece of the pie, but for me that’s quiet moments, time with family, the classic holiday songs and yes, the classic movies like It’s A Wonderful Life. Those old holiday movies symbolize the ethereal side of Christmas, and that’s how I view it.  

How about you? What does Christmas mean to you? Is it renewal and hope or is it, as Lucy Van Pelt says, “… a big commercial racket. It's run by a big Eastern Syndicate!”