It is about 6:30 Christmas morning and the house of adults is waking up. Bustling is the theme as a warm wind blows outside. I do appreciate the reason for the season, and this is why.
Ideally, Christmas is a loving time. A time of giving and sharing. When you are poor as i am this season perhaps all you can give is your time to (in my case) do home repairs and remodels. Others may be able to baby sit or do something else that is hopefully meaningful in their loved ones lives.
I accept that Jesus is the reason for the season because of the simple fact that many "pagan" beliefs and rituals were borrowed to form what we today call Christmas. Santa Claus is a combination of the Dutch Sinter Klaas, and St. Nicholas - who had a sort of demon following him to deal with the bad children. We know Jesus was not born on December the 25th or it's equivalent. That was political expediency in the days of the early church when they decided not to rock the boat of the Roman's. They changed the Sabbath (remember it and keep it holy) from Saturday as the Jews continue to follow, to Sunday. They also started celebrating Jesus birth on the 25th of December which was the Roman holiday of Saturnalia.
We also know that Mary was not a sexual virgin but a young woman. The intentional mistranslation from the Alexandria Codex of the early NT was keeping up with the neighbors. That is how Krishna, and several other divinities were born, so early attempts to make Jesus the "only begotten Son of God" needed to meet the ante as it were.
Yet despite this mishmash of ideas influences, (lighted coniferous trees from pagan Germanic celebrations) and the pressures of crass commercialization, we still find a way to love and care for each other in this season regardless of our understandings regarding the preceding items.
So this to wish anyone who reads this now or in the future a happy and blessed Christmas season, and a wish that their new year will be a better year for you in whichever way is significant for you.
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