Rambling Thoughts on Christmas

My mother, Eve, wanted to write something for Cut Me Deep in the Christmas spirit. So, I figured I would post it where everyone would be able to see it. Thanks mom!

"Can't remember the last time it snowed on Christmas since we left Vermont. I think this will be the first here in CT. At least that I can remember.

No, that's not right. A year or so after we moved here, there was snow on Christmas Eve. We were at a neighborhood party. A party given for people without extended families. Especially given for that purpose by a lovely lady who is dead now.

I don't know why I remembered that just now. It was a long time ago it seems. It was nice. She was nice. And it's gone.

So are the five little kids who used to have trouble falling asleep at night on Christmas Eve. So are the carrots for Santa's reindeer. And the cookies.

But then so is the mom who used to bake for days. Nut cups, Yule log, Stars and Christmas tree sugar cookies. The mom who used to decorate every square inch of the house.

Don't know what happened. Maybe it's supposed to happen. Children grow up and have other priorities. Shit happens like a divorce, a house burning down, kids trying to figure out where they are going in life and mucking it up.

Comes down to Christmas is a fantasy and probably few people really get it.

The other day my daughter was told that it was sad to be an atheist. And when my daughter commented to the mother of her friend that Christmas was too stressful, the mother snapped back in utter stress that "no, it wasn't"

Right. What would Christ have to say if he came down now and saw everyone running around trying to find that one edition of "Guitar Hero Three.?" Running around getting the latest of this and that, satisfying lists of already spoiled kids, and burning out their credit cards, leaving the details of how to pay for all of this for some other time.

And what would Christ have to say about the television commercials. Those horrible things that tell the have-nots what they should have but WON"T be getting for Christmas?

What would he say?

I think that he would cry. He would cry because all those wonderful Christians who think it is a sin to be atheist don't get it either. Totally missed the point.

Oh, that's an exaggeration to be sure. There are one or two people out there who give to the needy and do something selfless for Christmas. And there are even some of them who live that selfless spirit all year long. And I thank them for that. Because it gives me hope. Makes me think that Santa does exist in spite of all the commercial hype.

And me. I used to do that too. But now too stressed. Too involved in my own issues. Such a hypocrite I am. Maybe next year. Maybe when things are all settled. Maybe."

~ Eve