Is It Christmas Yet?

I now have my Christmas music station playing on my computer. That means it is officially Christmas season for me.  The songs are often sappy, but sometimes we need sap, plenty of it. Humans endure so much reality all year long they have invented a Christmas season way over the top, from over decorated department stores in October to the materialism that seems to define the holiday season. But there is much to like about Christmas. maybe that's why even the atheists and cultures unrelated to Christ share in some form of celebration this time of the year. After all, as the song says, "We need a little Christmas".

Now in my aged years one aspect of the Christmas season I most appreciate is the nostalgia, the memories of past Christmas times, those years when we were young and stupid but happier and more optimistic about the future. The human mind seems to create the memories that are needed for stability. As we age we have many memories of Christmas that come forth. The irony is when those memories were made we never had any idea they would be so important to us in our last years of life. Growing old is easier for those who can remember the exuberance of our youth. It does seem that at Christmas more of our memories are good than bad ones.

It is often said that we are all young, all children at Christmas. I am not sure that is true, but I feel sorry for those of us who won't at least try that prescription. As another song says, "Toy Land, Toy Land....once you have been there you will never want to return again". How many of our Christmas memories are those of our childhood, the toys, the family,  decorations, Santa Claus, all those Christmas traditions we thought would never die but have because time eventually kills everything. We even fondly remember cantankerous old Uncle Claude. Maybe that itself is one of those Christmas miracles.

I suspect that when we lose those memories or at least our desire to retrieve them at Christmas time, that it is a sign we are ready to end out life. When we don't have memories we fail to create any new ones.  Without Christmas memories I think the point of my life would be hard to understand. May all your Christmas memories this year, both old and new ones, be treasures.