Christmas 2022 is here. “The most wonderful time of the year,” one holiday song calls it.
Who’s bold enough to deny or question that bold sentiment?
At this time of year, we, meaning most to all of us, are in a similar mental state of mind (for all that’s worth, depending on one’s religious affiliation (however one identifies) and are thinking Christmas thoughts…
At any given time of a daily 24-hour cycle of personal awake hours (be they day-time or night-time, when one is not asleep and preoccupied with the looming holiday season and rampant merry-making, which I’ve long concluded is a reward (gift) for people of Christian faith, practicing or otherwise from the most high for having survived what for many was another grueling year of trials and tribulations unscathed, especially with all-too-common health/medical crises…
It surely must be a gift.
As my great-grandmother, and subsequently, my grandmother, mother, all of whom were truly religious souls and Christians in throughout their lifetimes, for whatever that was all worth to the Holy child, which I believe earned them a place in the proverbial “great beyond” as I came to understand and reflect on them.
Personally, I always found it interesting how my elderly male family members were not as religiously committed as the female ones. Nevertheless, they always enjoyed and participated in the flowing spirits… of the season if you will. But my great-grandmother, grandmother and mother always had something to offer visitors at ‘yule time.’
As I remember they all had similar religious traits and upbringing and didn’t stray from the teachings of the church/almighty and religious-oriented symbols of their faith…
What a threesome, my great-elders, if they were still in this earthly place, they would be busily preparing Christmas things for the approaching birth of Christ and approaching celebration… Right now, my memory of them and the approaching seasonal celebration are making me salivate, and hungry.
What else is there to do, preoccupy ourselves and thoughts with over the coming days and weeks with than switch into celebration mode, Christmas-style, than finding a way to mentally “shut down” from all the normal daily “hustle and bustle, same say mundane activities (for whatever they’re worth) of daily life.
Understandably.
Call, or describe it how you wish, will, like: festive, yuletide, whatever… it all translates to the same thing. There’s nothing new to be said about it. It’s the thoughts and sentiments that the season annually evokes.
What else, original, can be said about this looming annual period of unabashed, unbridled celebrating.
So, what can be said about this latest version of Christmas, as it gradually becomes embedded in our psyche?
Well, it’s the first time in three years that we’re able to anticipate a “worry-free” Christmas… or “holiday season” as some people are fond of saying. No looming Corona Virus (Covid-19) Pandemic to worry about. We’ve been living with it for three years now, so most of us, particularly those of us who have been respecting protocols and what-not can truly see the 2022 Christmas season as one to truly celebrate to the max, within reason of course.
Truth is, human nature being what it is, conversations heard on talk radio and public consensus tells me this holiday season people are going to take Prince’s advice and celebrate this Christmas like it’s let’s say pre-pandemic, whatever year that was, 2020… Which one? These days some people have forgotten the rampant hysteria leading up to the arrival of the first wave of Covid-19 in Canada.
This year, people are essentially thinking about getting back to celebrating an old-fashioned kind of Christmas pre-pandemic style. So as the year winds down here’s hoping you all have a Very Merry Christmas, followed by a Healthy and Happy New Year.
P.S. Don’t leave your mask at home. You will be celebrating like it’s 2023. But COVID is not dead and buried; but lots of people are.
So be vigilant if socializing… trying to make up for those couple of pandemic years we were essentially denied Christmas celebrating.
