Not too Early to Talk About Christmas

The weekend that follows Thanksgiving is a curious time. It’s a time when we begin to think about Christmas in a very big way.

A strange transition occurs at multiple levels.

Christmas songs, old and new, can be heard on the radio when only a week ago Katy Perry ruled the airwaves singing the praises of “Last Friday Night.”

It’s a time when we dream of a White Christmas on Black Friday.

Our thoughts drift lazily of mistletoe and tasty treats amid the frantic buying of Cyber-Monday.

All this while the landscape around us changes from late autumn to early winter. The leaves fall from trees that become more and more barren.

The sky turns dark and gray. And, the cool misty fog lingers on the hills that are just beginning to grow their mossy green beard.

Christmas decorations begin to make their fist appearance but are not yet in their fullest of splendor.

Christmas is considered by many to be a season of hope, of joy, and most of all peace. Yet, wars are fought over the Christmas season at times.

This season, we are occupied over a war of economics as the ninety nine percent rally its occupational forces against the one percent.

I’ve figured out I’m definitely not of the one percent. Yet, I am defiantly not of the 99 percent.

Not a day goes by that my thoughts are not occupied in agony over my still undiscovered percentage.

As this Christmas season begins, I took some time to look about Clayton and consider this: What does Christmas mean to me?

Then, I took that question to some folks who happened to be downtown Sunday afternoon.

Even though it’s the Christmas season, I must suffer rejection from a number of people who do not wish to speak to me about Christmas out of suspicion or a desire to remain private.

In all honesty, I can’t blame them even in this season of hope.

After all, how would you feel if some strange man walks up to you in a park donning a camera, claiming to be freelance journalist for Patch and talking about Christmas?

Here is what some people believe Christmas means to them:

For Ray Singh of Concord, Christmas means, “the opportunity to share with friends and family all the good that has happened throughout the year.”

Ray’s good friend, Willie Gutierrez of Baypoint said that Christmas means “happiness, family and togetherness. “

Susan Buddle of Clayton was playing with her son Ryan. For her, Christmas means “family, friends, and lots of love.”

Joe Magana of Clayton sat alone sunning himself in the Grove Park. He told me that Christmas was about “sharing the true spirit of Christmas, which has a religious part.” He said, “There is a commercial part of Christmas and we are passing it along to our kids. They are loosing the essence of what Christmas really means.

Michelle Lutz, a resident of Concord and student at Clayton Valley High School, works at Ed’s Mudville Grill. She told me what Christmas means to her. “It’s about the birth of Christ. It is a time for families to get together, to realize what we are blessed with, and to reach out to those who are less blessed.”

When I think of what Christmas means to me, it has not always meant the same thing over the passing of time.

When I was a child, I thought like a child. Christmas was about lighted trees with presents underfoot. It was about family and merry making, and best of all, no school.

As an adult, I worked many a Christmas, day and night. Christmas was defined as an ongoing gift buying program that lasted throughout the year.

My family adjusted their Christmas celebration around my work schedule so we could be together. This sometimes meant we celebrated Christmas on a day other than the 25.

Now, as I enter the last trimester of my life, Christmas has a much deeper, a more original meaning.  Even though we still spend on gifts to no end (not a bad thing in and of itself when kept in perspective,) I find myself more often occupied in my heart and mind with the former, rather than the later.

Still, it is comforting to know that amid all the commercialism and conflict that surrounds us at Christmas; one common element was echoed in the thoughts of the people I talked with during this transition to Christmas:

Family.

That’s at least as good a start as any when it comes to keeping the true sprit of Christmas alive.

Tell us what Christmas means to you.