Christmas 2023

 “It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”  That’s the opening line from a song by the same name, written in 1963 for Andy Williams.  The song mainly speaks of family activities over the holidays, such as hosting parties, visits from friends, spending time with loved ones, sledding, roasting marshmallows, and so on.  For many of us who are in the older generations, the song brings back memories of the holidays long ago celebrated.  For many of the younger, I have to wonder if the song is some kind of ancient history…the time before cell phones and the Internet.  “Quaint” is the word that pops into my head now as I think about that possibility.

In many respects we older folks can be rather quaint to the younger generations…”charmingly odd in an old-fashioned way,” as the dictionary defines the word.  I often wonder what images and thoughts come to the minds of my grand children when they think of me.  Do they think of me as “quaint”?  Or do other thoughts and visions come to mind?

I know that at least the older grands realize that I have some age on me.  They are more helpful when it comes to carrying something, lifting something, or doing some other kind of manual labor.  The younger grands enjoy the “meeting and greeting” part of our coming together…giving hugs and seeming to genuinely be happy to have me present.  It’s as if they somehow know that it won’t always be this way…that they will grow up and I will get older and one day not even be here.  These “meeting and greeting” times seem to be times of “Enjoy it now while we can,” things.  Which, by the way, I do.

This week, as we go full tilt into the Christmas holiday on Monday, the next days are filled, at least for our family, with the kinds of things talked about in the Andy Williams song.  We won’t get much sledding done…it looks like the weather won’t be cooperative…but there will be all kinds of meetings, greetings, get-togethers, and times with family and friends.  We will enjoy it all, and be happy we can rest and recover for a day or two following it all.

I don’t know what your holiday weekend will be like.  I don’t know if you have family or not.  I don’t know if you want to see your family or not.  I don’t know if you celebrate the holiday or just prefer to let it pass unnoticed.  Everyone does it differently, and that’s OK.  I do hope, however, that you celebrate relationships…relationships with others, whether family, friends, or neighbors.  We are not islands.  We don’t live…we only exist…if we don’t have good relationship with others.

Those of you who know me also know that I’m not much of a poet, nor am I into poetry.  I was “forced” to memorize poems in junior high school such as Flanders Fields and The Village Blacksmith.  It was not one of my better memories of junior high.  However, I came across a poem in a Google search on relationships written by John O’Neill.  O’Neill, in a poem written a few years back, has this to say about relationships and growing older.  This isn’t the complete poem.  I’ve taken excerpts from it instead.

 

Where is my village now when I need it more than ever?  The generation that raised me are all gone:  Grandparents, parents, the last of my twenty-six aunts and uncles.  I’m not ready to be an elder of the remaining tribe.  What wisdom can I claim as my own?  What insights and advice dare come from my lips?  There are no easy solutions to our difficulties.  Some basic measures must suffice

As a beginning: Hug those you love And touch them with words as well.  Accept and respect the people you know.  Love and respect at least one person not of your tribe.  Be gentle and kind of heart in all of your actions.  Keep in mind always that we are not islands; but all life is part of one creation.  Life’s burdens were meant to be shared.

 

He’s right, you know.  Life’s burdens are indeed meant to be shared.  And it’s in relationship that we share one-another’s burdens.  As the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Galatian Christians, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”  A few short sentences later, Paul says, “The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

We can’t share burdens…we can’t love our neighbor…if we disregard relationships and don’t actively foster and promote them.  This holiday season, put away the discord, the divisiveness, the selfishness, and the put-downs.  Instead, work on relationships in a positive way.  Kind words, genuine care and compassion, serving rather than being served, promoting relationship…may your holidays be filled with peace and joy.

 

Blessings.