Ah, the holiday season is upon us! It begins meekly during Halloween and kicks into gear the week before Thanksgiving. Besides the multitude of Black Friday / Cyber Monday ads in email inboxes, television commercials, radio jingles, and store displays, you can actually “feel” it! What is this feeling?
While the commercialization of the holidays is pretty much complete, many will take the time to contemplate. I’m surely not alone in doing this, but for me, the holidays provide a time to dwell on past events, make plans for the future and just try to make time slow down for a bit.
This year was a little rough at the start, but things are shaping up OK now. After a lot of work (and spending), our new house is finally looking decent, the kids have acclimated to their new schools quite well and work is, well, work. But it’s there, and that’s what counts.
As an atheist, the whole idea of getting into the “holiday spirit” is a bit counter-intuitive. What does that even mean? If I go by my inbox, it means to get into the spending side of
the biz. But if I try to define it a little better, it means this for me: getting into the “spirit” of the holidays is a feeling that comes in the form of anxiety over keeping spending under control, anticipation as I lay out my vacation and travel plans, and of course, the warmth (and drama) of seeing family and friends. My family lives in Texas and I’m in L.A., so it really is a big deal whenever they can come see me or I can trek it down to Texas.
I get together with the family for Thanksgiving and Christmas and these are mostly good times. However, I am under no illusion that these times we spend together are a celebration of something holy, that we are celebrating the birth of Christ, or that a New Year’s Resolution will really bring about change.
To me, Thanksgiving dinners and Christmas gift giving have become traditions. These are now specially designated times towards the end of the year where you don’t need to send invitations or make plans – these plans make themselves way ahead of time. It’s the two times of the year where for the most part, everyone has days off.
And to me, there are zero religious ties. As such, I have no problem saying “Happy Thanksgiving” or “Merry Xmas!” I also have zero issues when people wish me well by saying “God Bless You.” I am never offended by anyone’s well wishes, regardless of where they come from.
So to everyone who may read this, I sincerely wish you all a “Happy Thanksgiving,” a “Merry Christmas,” and a very “Happy New Year!”
