Sharon Kennedy: Christmas: A tale of woe or good tidings?
By now I hope you’ve done all your shopping, hung your stockings from the mantel or doorknobs, and chosen your Christmas goose. If you haven’t, you have four more days to do all the things you should have done a month ago. Forget about baking dozens of cookies to share with friends and family. You’ve run out of time. Wrap the last of the gifts, pour a cup of coffee and relax. Forget about all the toys you didn’t buy. You’ve done the best you could with the resources you had. Stop feeling guilty.
In the days before my time, most gifts were homemade. Everything from mittens to taffy candy came from the hands of a loved one, not from a store. Daily living made harsh demands on everyone. Mom said contentment came for farm families when everyone was healthy, the livestock had enough feed for the winter and the woodpile was sufficient to get through the cold months ahead.
My brother was 8, I was 10 and my sister 14 before Dad bought our first television. I don’t remember seeing an avalanche of ads for toys. As youngsters, we spent hours studying the pages of Christmas catalogs from Wards and J.C. Penney. That was our introduction to advertising, but we didn’t recognize it as such. It was simply a way of seeing what toys were available. On Christmas morning, we were thrilled when that one present we coveted but couldn’t afford appeared underneath the tree.
When I was young, we sang songs like “Away in a Manger” and “Silent Night.” In fifth grade, I played Mary. Many years later when I attended my daughter’s fifth grade Christmas program, I came out singing secular songs. Christmas wasn’t about Christ anymore except for an hour during church services. It was about shopping, reindeer and Santa Claus.
The 25th is a difficult day for many people especially if they lost a loved one during the year. It’s a terrible time for homeless families and the working poor. Some folks dread this time of year because money is scarce and expectations are high especially if the family has young children. The true meaning gets lost amid the glitter and glitz of meaningless advertisements hawking boatloads of junk from China. The real beauty of Christmas is sharing what little we have with others.
If we could remember that simple truth, the spirit of Christmas might stay with us throughout the year. We have the power to change its commercialization by putting on the shopping brakes. I know that’s hard to do especially when kids are constantly exposed to advertisements for expensive items. It’s grossly unfair to families who lack the financial resources to purchase toys they cannot afford. On Christmas morning, children are disappointed and parents are angry. Instead of the day being filled with expressions of love and happiness, homes are potential war zones.
Maybe this year will be different. Maybe the ultra-wealthy will enjoy playing Santa and distribute millions of gifts to the less fortunate. It would be wonderful if limousines pulled up in front of Section 8 housing, tent cities, shelters for the homeless and other places where people seek refuge. Imagine the joy it would bring to the poor if billionaires personally handed out presents. Imagine how good the givers would feel when they saw tears of gratitude on the faces of the recipients. Christmas would truly bring good tidings and hope for the future.
— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at authorsharonkennedy.com. Kennedy's new book, "View from the SideRoad: A Collection of Upper Peninsula Stories," is available from her or Amazon.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sharon Kennedy: Christmas: A tale of woe or good tidings?
