With the rustle of Christmas trees on display in every home hardware store, and the tingle of change inside everyone's wallets. Oh yes, the joyful sounds of Christmas have graced us. Christmas is a time of joy and celebration for the birth of Jesus Christ! Ah yes, his holiness has made his presence upon this earth, and what better way to commemorate this than an annual celebration!
All the things in Christams are a direct tribute to this very moment. I mean, we have presents to directly reference the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. We have a Christmas tree because... I'm sure there were trees outside the stable. And of course, roast ham and chicken as a direct representation of the baby Jesus himself.
Wait...
Yes, this topic has been talked to about death.
You see, it's sad that the true essence of Christmas seems to be lost. No longer is it a time for celebration of our common era. At this time of year, coins now snow down from the sky. Promotion upon promotion, all big businesses see at this time of year is money, money, money. Your *** will be worked off just so other people can receive money. In fact, I saw this plastered on a store close to where I live:
Admittedly, I've been caught up in this as well. I've bought $500 worth of gifts for myself and my family for this joyous occasion, most of it out of impulse rather than regard for the budget that we have.
However, the above image hurts to me not because of the money grab of the business owner, but rather it annoys me that those people will not have a good opportunity to celebrate this occasion.
I have always loved Christmas. In fact, Christmas was always the highlight of my year as a child. My family would always have a huge feast and invite all of the family friends and my friends to barbecues of great big eye fillet steaks and whole roast chicken and legs of ham. I loved it. The atmosphere within the house was lively and happy, as all the kids came together to play with their new toys and trucks.
Perhaps this caused things to escalate.
Thinking back, I noticed that every year, I got bigger and bigger toys.
I got a Tonka truck when I was seven. I got a GameBoy Advanced plus Pokemon Sapphire and the original NES Mario when I was eight. I got a Nintendo DS Lite when I was nine. I got a Wii when I was ten, plus other games. I got a PS3 when I was eleven. I got a PC when I was twelve.
Slowly, I was engulfed in the spending habits of this time of year. The celebration got smaller, and the price of the gifts became higher.
I'm not saying I hate Christmas. I love Christmas, It's just recently, I've been rather desensitized to the magic of Christmas. When you're older, you realise the impact Christmas has on your wallet, and you no longer think that these gifts are just procured with no impact on anyone. It really is a depressing thought.
Yet again, the celebratory spirit is just lost. Last year, even though I received expensive gifts, we had no big celebration. All we did was have some leftover sausages from the freezer with my mother and father, with my sister and her husband going to another function. I was a lot more disappointed by this than I thought. In fact, I felt really sad that there was no big celebration like how I was used to. The biggest highlight of my year was simply another 'meh' day.
Well. that's enough of my rambling, but I would like to end this with something that I read online.
While this doesn't apply to most of you, those that this does apply to, remember that in the midst all the hustle and bustle, and rattling of coins and fluttering of dollar bills, there are still some families that don't have enough money. If you have a child that is still at an age that believes in Santa, then don't give him something big from him. Give that child some clothes or perhaps a medium sized toy. The bigger toys, however, make sure you say they're from you. When the kids go back and start comparing their presents from Santa, we don't want the kids with families who don't have the liberty of freely spending money to feel as if Santa is discriminating against them for not being afford expensive presents. Make sure that all children have the magical spirit in which Christmas brings, and make sure no one is disappointed by it.
'Tis the season to be jolly. Fa la la la laaa la la laa laaaa.
I'm sorry, but this one line eclipsed your entire post. It's still a lovely post, much appreciated.
:)
(And holy ****, I'm older than you.)