It's Not About The Presents

(Photo by Tori Tedesco, taken at HSGA December 4, 2010)

Let me start by stating:

I LIKE GETTING PRESENTS AS MUCH AS THE NEXT PERSON.

Honestly. Not going to lie.

But please, give me and the %*^&$@! Holiday Season a flippin' break, will you? I understand things are tight, if not desperate for a lot of people. But just because Junior isn't going to get his %*^&$@! iPad or Muffy isn't going to get her $150 designer ripped-up jeans, doesn't mean your Christmas (or whatever) is going to suck a holly wreath. Just because you are a zillion miles from home or you're divorced, widowed, have no family at all, no money, your mother hates you, you lost your job...the same goes. Quit your bitchin' and your Scrooge-ing and your Bah-Humbuggin'! I'm sick to death of it. So are a truck-load of other people. I guarantee you someone is much worse off than you are.

Shine the light. If you don't have a tree, get a branch. If you can, beg or buy a $2 string of lights and put it on your branch, door or window and be thankful you can breath, walk, talk, see, hear. Put a light in your window if you've got one (and I hope you do). Make someone smile by the lights. If all you have is your car, snag some tinsel and put it somewhere.

And all you Scrooges out there, the ones who HAVE a tree but aren't putting it up. (You know who you are!) Just do it.

Cheap or Free Things: Listen to some Holiday music. Even the sad ones. Put a penny in the Salvation Army pot if that's all you got. Smile to the clerk at every store or especially at the grocery store. Buy some cookie dough on sale and make cookies for someone, anyone. If you're working, have a %*^&$@! pot-luck party at work. Bless everyone you meet. Even if it's only in your insides.

The Kids. Take your kids caroling, trim your tree, help out as a family at a food bank or homeless shelter, help out at the Humane Society, buy toys for Toys For Tots. Have Junior get off his lazy %*^&$@! X-Box butt and shovel out Old Mrs. Neighbour's driveway. Bring her some of your dinner or invite her over for cookies. Tell your %*^&$@! spoiled brat of a daughter if she complains one more time and rolls her eyes, her share of Christmas stuff is going to pay for a sick dog's medical expenses at the shelter.

I'm sorry but even little kids do not need a sackful of stuff. It's the lights, the tree, the stockings, the music, the sharing. Plays games! A three, four year old can learn "Go Fish" and start to play Yahtzee or Sorry!

You want to give kid something? Spend a day with them.

You have no money? Offer your time to clean Mom's house, give Dad a back-rub, baby-sit your sister's bratty kids for an afternoon, clean out the dog pen, garage, attic, whatever. Get out your crayons or Sharpie or computer and make a Gift Certificate and honour it.

(By the Way, stockings are not just for kids!)

Get the gang on the car, put on some music and drive around looking at the lights. Everybody gets to pick a favorite. Is it a "display?" Is it "Inflate-a-world?" Have fun! That's just time and some gas.

Snow. Yes, it can be very annoying, especially if you have to shovel it, drive in it or walk in it. It'll be gone; it's just something you have to get through. It'll change. Leave early. Take your time. BTW, Clue Phone. You are not the only person who is annoyed.

The Big 411. Christmas, the Holidays (whatever) aren't about what everyone seems to think it is. It can be honouring old traditions or making new ones to honour. It's the celebration of The Light. The Light returning; the days beginning to get longer. The Light of God's Love, whatever your faith. The Light in your heart.

Be like The Grinch at the END of story:

"He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more!"

"And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day. And then - the true meaning of Christmas came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten* Grinches, plus two!"

Quit being a jerk. Don't make everybody else's holiday crummy by your attitude.

Let your heart be Merry and Bright and let it "grow three sizes" during this time of year!