Do they know it's Christmas?

If you click the title you'll end up at a CBS webpage where, on the left about halfway down you can watch a video about Ben Stein's thoughts on Christmas. For the record, if you want to wish me a Happy Hanukkah, or Eid, or Kwanzaa or simply offer best wishes over the holiday season...heck if you want to invite me to just enjoy the time off work, I will not be offended. Quite frankly, I celebrate Christmas as a doubtful Christian anyway. I think of it more as a non-denominational goodwill sort of holiday. And you don't need to believe in Jesus or Santa Claus to let a little joy and goodwill into your heart. Too bad it only happens once a year, even if it is for practically one sixth of said year.

On the other hand, thank god (whoever you may be) that it only happens once a year. Less frequently might be welcome. I'm referring now to that side of the holiday season that is about how things SHOULD be and a revisionist history of how things WERE. I confess, Christmas always makes me very sad. Not the sitting in a corner rocking back and forth in the fetal position kind of sad, but more melancholy and wistful than I normally like to be. The unproductive kind of melancholy and wistful. This is not an indictment of my mother, but as a child I always remember Christmases as being a time when Mom would miss her family, living in another city. And now, I think of how things are different than Christmases past, and it sort of depresses me because it makes me think that things are not how they should be, that we (me?) messed up somewhere along the way. It's not that I couldn't or don't feel this way the rest of the year, it's just that I can handle it better without all this family togetherness and tradition and perfection and Martha all over the place. That's the image that's put out there, but the reality seems to be that Christmas is about feeling down on yourself. Man, I'd like to be 3 again. Blissfully ignorant and too little to carry any baggage.

So Merry Christmas to you all, Christian or not. Let's all leave our baggage on the airport carousel and enjoy some good company.