Holly Daze

As a kid I used to love this day. What kid wouldn't? It was the one day out of the year that a big jolly man named Santa Claus came down the chimney and left presents. At least that is what we were led to believe, until we got old enough to know that it was actually our parents that bought them. I think like most kids I was probably somewhere around the age of 8 when I stopped believing in Santa. Of course, that didn't mean I was going to pass on the one day out of the year I was going to get presents, and it wasn't even my birthday.

I'm not sure when I became disenchanted with the whole holiday. It's not that I'm Ebenezer Scrooge about the whole thing. Though this year I'm sure that my niece and nephew would say that I was. This is the first year that I have not bought a single present. For anyone. It was a few years ago that I only bought presents for the kids. Only now all the kids have all grown up, from my baby brother all the way down to my niece. All are now respectively 20, 17, and 13.

I just feel that this holiday is a day that has turned into such a commercialized franchise. Not to mention a very tacky holiday. Every where you drive you see all these gaudy lawn ornaments. I drove by one house that had one of those blow up plastic jobs of Santa lying in a hammock in between two palm trees. And I haven't forgotten to mention all those houses (sometimes the whole friggin' block!) that are covered in so many lights that you can see them from outer space. Com'mon now. Is all that shit really necessary?

I'm not a religious person, so I'm not even going to go there. There are just too many religions out there and I'm not even going to try and pretend that I know anything about any of their beliefs. From a religious stand point, today means many different things to them. So, I'm not even going to go there. All I know is, from the time that I can remember; I was taught that today marks the traditional birth date of Jesus (even though it is unknown exactly when or why December 25 became associated with Jesus' birth). This is what I grew up believing as a child, along with Santa.

So just what does today mean to me, the day that has been dubbed as Christmas? Well, for me, today is a day just like any other day, except I don't have to go to work. Popular Christmas themes include the promotion of goodwill, giving, compassion, and quality family time. Which if you ask me, why? Shouldn't every day be a day of goodwill, giving, compassion, and family time? Shouldn't every day be a day that we show goodwill and compassion towards everyone, regardless if they are someone who is well off or less fortunate? Giving should be from the heart and not because we feel that we have to, or that some holiday dictates us to do so.

The same thing with family, every day should be a day to spend quality time with family as well. But if you ask me, today is a day that a good majority of people are dreading having to spend time with their family or their spouses family and glad to be back home when it's all over. Just ask anyone you know. I bet you'll find at least one of them that will have a story for you about all the drama of their day spent with family.

I dunno, maybe I'm just feeling the loss of my Grammy. This is the first Christmas without her here. Not that we really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense these days, but we always had a dinner of sort and Grammy was always with us. Our family has dwindled down to just me, my brother, my mom, and my uncle. Only my uncle is still away for a spell, so it's just the three of us.

All I do know is that I miss my Grammy.