The Adventure of Finding Christmas Spirit and the Girl in the Red Bug

I have always found the holidays, all holidays, a contradiction in terms; but more specifically I find Christmas, and what I actually observe and feel about Christmas, to be a huge contradiction in terms. I find myself, more often than not, addicted to the melancholy during the holidays. Christmas to me is a mixture of  joy, laced with sadness, and a pinch of longing for something different, perhaps something more. It’s a time of year, where I assess all the blessings and gifts that I have in my life, while having the things that I deem lacking in my life polarized and intensified.

I hear people say, “Remember for the reason for the season,” “It’s not about the gifts,” and various other cliches, that are used to describe, “The most wonderful time of the year.” Don’t get me wrong, I love the concept of Christmas. I have longed for, for most of my life, the It’s a Wonderful Life, Little House on the Prairie, Walton’s kind of Christmas; a type of Christmas that I am sure only exists in a Hallmark, made for TV movie.

So, how does one get around the melancholy of Christmas, the disappointment of hearing a bell ring and knowing that it’s only a bell ringing, not another angel getting its wings? For me, I have to seek out, or in some instances create, moments that lead to joy. Joy really is all around me if I look for it. Joy can be making a batch of caramel corn with your sister, having dinner with your family, receiving a batch salsa from a friend; joy takes on many forms and is something that is individual and unique to each of us. Joy to me, is the small things in life that create something more grand. It isn’t one day out of the year where people are expected to “provide good will towards men,” it’s the everyday random acts that I find joyful. Jf it has to be labeled and only acted on one day of the year, is it truly Christmas spirit?

I pray that for the coming year, that each of us experiences the true joy of Christmas on a daily basis. That we will take time out to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season, each and every day, not just on December 25. 

Until the next time...The Girl in the Red Bug