Holidailies: The Christmas Song

"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
Jack Frost nipping at your nose..."

Another Christmas has come and gone--the excited realizations that there are gifts to be unveiled, Christmas-only treats to be eaten, expressions of love to be exchanged. The day passed simultaneously quickly and slowly, long dregs of rest and lazy periods of lethargy. it seems that when there is nothing pressing to do or places to rush to, time takes on a different dimension. One that I can only assume that children feel at all times when they are young. Eat when you feel hungry, lay down and take a nap if you feel tired, run around examining new toys or books or people as the moments stike you. In a way this once a year time when I can revert back to this child like lethargy is a nice change but upon deeper reflection, I think that too much of this rather prosaic lifestyle would leave me bored to tears. I wander about the house looking for some way to occupy my hands, my mind, my time and, especially since I am inhabiting someone else's living space for the holidays, it is difficult.

As a typical Type A, always on the go type person, this type of living probably would create paroxysms of insanity. I like being busy. In this small-ish town holidays mean that the entire city shuts down--nothing open, no one available for last minute entertainment or boredom fillers. In a time when stores open in 72 hour stretches to accomodate last minute consumerism, and indulge in fast-everything to gooptions, this slower pace strikes me as quaint and annoying. A dichotomy not easily reconciled if you are used to having options 24/7 365 days per year.

There are some who would say that it is time for a reversion--a time to embrace the slower quiet lifestyle where Sunday walks after family dinners with only the midnight mass service to attend are an expectation rather than an exceptionality. They, the mysterious they, say that lifestyles like this would save our society from the moral decay that is raping the next generation without giving them a chance to redeem themselves. I am unconvinced that the decay is due to having busy lives although I agree that our children are rather over-scheduled and overwhelmed with adult-like activities. I think, rather, that people simply need to make wiser choices from the options presented. Just because there are 100 options to choose from doesnt mean that you need to cram them all in. I think that having options is one of the hallmarks of a democratic society and that any whiff of taking those options away feels a bit too Socialist for my tastes.

As the year wraps up and we are plunging into more political turmoil before the federal election early in the new year, I am forced to dwell on the impact that others might have on my rights to live my life, busy or not. I do not strive to be political and will seldom make more than obscure comments in this forum as to my political leanings, but since it is a topic that will dominate the end of year newscasts, I feel somewhat obliged to take it into account and digest it right alongside the turkey and stuffing. So long as I enjoy my rights to congregate at Christmas time with my friends and family, so long as I get to feast on whatever type of meal suits my fancy, so long as my children are allowed to make whatever choices might move them in the long laziness of holiday days, I am participating in politics and whether or not you realize it, you are too.

And, in the freedom alloted to me and my family,

"...I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said
many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you."