Season's Greetings

As I write this blog, the end of the year is approaching at a rapid pace and Christmas along with it in all its trimmings and commercialism. For me the commercialism of Christmas is not so much that it disguises the true meaning of Christmas, but that it disguises the joy of life itself. Do we really need to see one more picture of one more family going overboard in their commitment to celebrating the birth of Christ. How about the man who decorated his house so elaborately that it caught fire from a shorted fuse. Where is the sense of 50 or 100 people jumping into freezing water for a swim on the coldest day of the year. Why bury Oxford Street in so many lights that the night becomes day. And why, oh why does the old tradition of a carol service on Christmas eve become a mayhem of carol services for all kinds of things starting in late November. I have long taken issue with Christmas starting in September and October but I think I gave in on that years ago. But I do object to this incredible proliferation of services often disguised as raising funds for charity. Not to be controversial but it makes one long for the Indian Diwali or the Chinese New year that are short sweet but no less sincere. 

I loved Christmas as a child and bemoaned all through my adult life at how long the Christmas season became. My earliest recollection  is of a now defunct department store in Toronto that always cleared its Christmas space the week that kids went back to school in early September, the plastic trees and ornaments came soon after and santa's grotto was in place by October. Now this is a given and we have come to accept it. I never imagined it could get worse but now my head veritably spins with all the carol services. I just want to get to Christmas Eve to get to the actual carol service that may actually mean something.  

I think the real joy of Christmas is its timing in the year, close to the winter solstice, I am told to give the heathens something to celebrate instead of dancing around stonehenge on the 21st. Also close to New Year's bringing a real sense of rebirth as the months and seasons start their new march from January to December again. For me I used to wish for the New Year to get rid of Christmas but I don't feel like that any more. No for me now the longing for new year is for the rebirth of the earth, as the crocuses and snow drops push up, as the daffodils start to appear, as buds fatten and birds start to sing again. As the sun starts to rise again in the sky in a real dawn and not hug the horizon for a few hours. 

But most of all we have started a new tradition, the cheap holiday booked in seconds over the internet to take me to Southern Europe to Portugal and the Algarve where 20 degrees in January is not unheard of. Where oranges hang from trees in winter. Where fish restaurants reign supreme, this is the new Christmas Season for me, a chance to celebrate life and a love of this earth in a land of colour.

Roll on January, with apologies to all those Christmas/Solstice/New Year revelers........