Cheesy Christmas Sentiment

The holiday season is here.

That magical time of the year when everything seems happy, ideal, peaceful.

As a child, this time of the year holds a special significance. When we are little, the holiday season seems magical, mystical, happy. You write your lists, you wait excitedly for the appearance of the irreverent Santa Claus, and watch with joy as sugar plum fairies, reindeer and magical elves fill our television screens, shopping malls and stockings.

When you're a child, Christmas is often the happiest time of the year. Everyone seems joyful, hopeful. Everyone is talking and singing about peace and love. Maybe, for just a little while, mommy and daddy stop fighting about bills and the "credit cards". You walk past the Christmas tree, day after day, anxiously eyeing your presents and wondering just what might be wrapped up under its sparkling majesty.

But along the line, something changes.

Suddenly the wind-up to Christmas day consists of you checking your bank account frantically, wondering if you'll have enough money to get your boyfriend that one "special" thing. You know the one, that one present that will show just how much you care. That one little thing that will show them, finally, just how much they mean.

Somewhere, in the long and winding road between childhood and adulthood, you stop worrying less about the happiness and magic of the season, and start worrying more about the presents you can buy and the image you can present.

For many of us, this holiday season goes from being the most joyous time of the year to the most stressful. We scrimp and save for weeks and months, many of us going to extreme lengths and midnight purchase duels, just to get the perfect gifts and trinkets.

Because Christmas, and indeed the entire "holiday season", has mutated into something gruesome and ugly.

It's not about family anymore. It's not about sitting around listening to the laughter and tales of your loved ones; sharing songs and stories. Today, Christmas is about gifts and presents. Expensive meals. Expensive trips. Things, things, things. How many things can we buy this year? Gone are the images of mother and child, sitting down to make popcorn wreaths and hand-sewn stockings.

Somewhere, in all the rush and the hubbub, we have lost the meaning of Christmas. The warmth, the happiness, the simplicity. The sense of family and communion. We have stopped giving thanks and started feeding our greed, fattening ourselves on the vapid promises of an over-saturated corporate commercialism that is poisoning our love and our appreciation for life. We have lost the heart. We must have THINGS.

This holiday season, no matter your faith or celebrations, take a moment - a real moment. Look at the people around you, and appreciate them. Appreciate love. Appreciate warmth. The roof over your head, the smiles that you find. Appreciate the beauty of this life.

Remember the true reason for the season.

Love.