You are standing up to your knees in the slime of a waterlogged trench. It is the evening of 24 December 1914 and you are on the dreaded Western Front.
Stooped over, you wade across to the firing step and take over the watch. Having exchanged pleasantries, your bleary-eyed and mud-spattered colleague shuffles off towards his dug out. Despite the horrors and the hardships, your morale is high and you believe that in the New Year the nation's army march towards a glorious victory.
But for now you stamp your feet in a vain attempt to keep warm. All is quiet when jovial voices call out from both friendly and enemy trenches. Then the men from both sides start singing carols and songs. Next come requests not to fire, and soon the unthinkable happens: you start to see the shadowy shapes of soldiers gathering together in no-man's land laughing, joking and sharing gifts.
Every since my kids were small, they always asked be what I wanted for Christmas. I always told them that I wanted something that they had to make with their own hands. So every year while I watched and took pictures, my kids would bring me my presents. A card cut out of cardboard, with pictures of Santa Claus or Elves glued to it. I treasure these gifts more than any possession I own. I have saved them all, from homemade cards to a toothpick box my daughter made. No money or gold could buy these gifts. They were made from the heart of a child, and gifts from the heart are rare and precious.
So this year, when you are saturated with ads from your TV, your radio and even your computers and phones, take a little time to remember what Christmas is all about. Not how much you paid for the newest and fastest electronic gizmos, but what it is really all about. This is the birth of Jesus, believe or not, and is a day for friends and family to get together and argue, yell, smile and laugh. And give. There are millions of homeless people in this country. No matter how they got that way, they also deserve a day of good food and good cheer. Is it to early to say Merry Christmas? I think so!
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Comments
I'm just hoping for an extra lump of coal this year.
Thank you Mission. We miss you around here and hope everything works out. Keep in touch!
Zombies in the manger--ha!
R
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252028/releaseinfo
But it's just not Christmas that comes earlier every year, a few years ago I actually bought a Cadbury Easter Egg at my local gas station on New Year's Eve!
I am so sick of it. (I don't let on to the kids except to discuss the meaning of giving and all that...which their grownups sort of poo poo, which rather ticks me, but hey...it's their life and their kids).
this year is a particularly bad year for us, on top of everything we just got bad news about our older dog's health. So we're spending what we don't have on her, giving each other additional quality life time for her, buying her hopefully comfort and maybe a few extra months where she won't feel like crap.
my husband is a little depressed over this...not taking care of the girl...he's all for that, but that what was going to be a frugal holiday is now going to be completely devoid of gifts between us. this makes me angry because I think I have everything! WHAT MORE CAN THIS MAN GIVE ME THAT I NEED THAT I DON'T ALREADY HAVE???
there is too much damn guilt about spending money and giving giving giving!! I do not understand how a loving holiday that went from the spirit of O Henry's Gift of the Magi, ended up the Target vs Walmart price wars.
does EVERY aspect of our lives have to be a consumer driven capitalist endeavor?
shit.
good post scanner, once again! but now I'm ready to kick something.
Great post, Scanner. I wish we Americans would slow down a little and celebrate one thing at a time. That way we could really enjoy the celebration.
It starts earlier and earlier in England and this year I saw the first Humbug display in a shop in mid-August. We also have the firework season alongside Halloween mixed in. No wonder kids are confused and hyper.
I'd love to see a suggestion we all forego our spending on the silly season and give to the needy instead. Something tells me not many would be prepared to do it.
Great post - Highly Rated.
Rated.
Thanks Mission.
spotted, kids sitting on a Zombie's lap, thats funny!
John, I think Groundhog Day, it was just yesterday it seems~
Travis, I love Cadbury eggs, but at New Years? Thanks!
frills, Terri and I have already said the same thing. No presents.
Thanks Gwen! Christmas is so commercialized it's scary!! Boo~
Walter, If All You Need is Love, I got it covered. Anything else, no!
Linda, as long as people can mortgage their future with credit cards, there will be bigtime spending. It takes all year to pay it off. Thanks
Rated for Jesus and zombies in one post!
The cartoon at the end was funny. "Aim for their heads, baby Jesus !" LMAO !
Kris, I agree, 6 months of Christmas will become the norm.
Kirsty, August? Thats insane~Thanks~
psyche, and people think they will both come back, thanks!
Wanderer, I had heard of this, but when I went and did a little research, It was like reading something out of a movie. Thanks!!
In the first month of Christmas,
It was hot and windy,
And I got a new-ew-ew convertible.
pretty soon they'll just sell Xmas stuff all year, they already have stores
I know we won't be buying much
from now on!