DECEMBER 23, 2024 – When it comes to official holidays, the thing about Christmas is that it’s not just one day. It’s an entire drawn-out season, and close on its heels is New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. Retailers bulk up their shelves and increase their hiring weeks in advance. We the people lay travel plans, make reservations, shop frenetically for gifts, make elaborate dinner decisions, attend Christmas parties, decorate trees—inside and out, assemble pictures for Christmas cards, and so on.
In other words, Christmas, even among secularists, is a bigger deal than say, President’s Day, Labor Day, let alone Ground Hog Day. I’m in favor of the elongated holiday season. It allows us to savor things—from spritz cookies to lights and ornaments to heightened social interaction with family and friends to the huge body of timeless music inspired by or dedicated to the Big Day. Plus, it gives me a chance to read A Christmas Carol to our nine-year-old granddaughter and take her to a theatrical production of Dickens’ immortal work.
With the early onset of old age, time accelerates. A day is here and gone in a flash. I find this increasing pace to be anxiety inducing. I want the good things to last—at least long enough to grasp and clutch as long as possible. The Christmas season, therefore, is much to my liking. It progresses more patiently than a single holiday on a zip line. The slower rate of passage is necessary for Christmas to accommodate all that it encompasses: the hope that builds in the steady stream of lights amidst the increasing gloom of shorter days; the strains of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, and Bing Crosby—timeless Christmas music that edifies the human soul generation after generation; the happiness that fills gatherings with family and friends; the exchange of gifts as symbols of love and generosity.
Yet, at the same time, because Christmas is such a big deal, it can also bring big stress. A delayed or canceled flight tests the patience of the weary; the season turns into a spotlight on loss, loneliness and estrangement; unrealistic expectations inflated by false hope are too easily dashed; long-laid plans are laid low by the flu. Because Christmas is a big holiday, it becomes a big bust when things go wrong.
As the season progresses, I try to live in the moment, enjoying what’s before me and not growing too anxious about what I can’t control—the weather on Christmas Day; the punctuality of our non-punctual son on Christmas Eve; the absence of people near and dear to us; how the $90 roast will turn out for Christmas dinner; whether I should have done more in the Christmas gift procurement department; and most unsettling of all, how many more Christmases fate will permit me to celebrate and with how many loved ones.
May the light and hope of this season distract us from our personal and collective anxiety. What’s left of the season is to be embraced and enjoyed as it comes; celebrated with good cheer and lightness of being.
Subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
© 2024 by Eric Nilsson
