WHAT IS CHRISTMAS? JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON IT… AND SOME THINGS TO DO TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER

(New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday)

One of the first harbingers of the coming season is the arrival of Christmas cards. Depending upon how organized, or not, your friends and family are… some may actually arrive sometime after Christmas.

Why did Christmas cards become so popular? Well, give credit to England’s new railway system back in the year 1840. It helped the public postal service work faster and more efficiently. That coupled with the fact a card could be sent for half the price of a letter really got things moving. And as the price of printed cards dropped, more and more, Christmas greetings were sent. This tradition spread to America and at first almost all Christmas Cards were entirely religious. Today they run the gamut from baseball players dressed as Santa to the more traditional Santa still streaking across the sky. .

As to Santa, he really was real - a Christian leader in Myra (modern day Turkey) in 4 AD. Tradition tells us that St. Nicholas was a shy, good man who wanted to help the poor, but anonymously. To make sure no one knew where the gifts or money came from, he sometimes had to be very inventive. One time, or so goes the story; wanting to give a poor family money for the wedding of their third daughter, he found he could not throw the purse in through an open window, as he had done with the other two daughters. So he climbed up on roof and dropped the purse down the chimney. Fortunately, it landed in one of the stockings that had been hung to dry over the warm hot coals. And thus the Christmas stocking.

And how did we get to know him as Santa Claus? It came about as a mispronunciation of the Dutch SinterKlaas which was their way of saying St. Nicholas.

Keeping alive the International flavor of this article may I remind that in Hungary, children clean their shoes and then put them outside next to the door or window. For them it is the equivalent of hanging a stocking. If they have really been bad, they may find a golden birch placed next to the candies. This symbol for a spanking probably got the message across. Were you ever threatened with the promise of a piece of coal in your stocking if you didn’t behave? Well, yes, another strange custom from places far away.

In Finland, many families visit cemeteries to place candles on the grave stones of family members.

In Belgium, a special sweet bread called ‘cougnou” is served for Christmas breakfast. It has been made in a shape meant to represent the baby Jesus.

Hopefully your Christmas is more of holy and not of humbug. And the answer to which is true depends on what you emphasize. So here are some thoughts on how to make this Christmas even better than last year. Well, if not necessarily better, at least to some degree different.

How about having a cookie exchange with a neighbor? That way you each get to sample each others favorites.

If you live where it snows, don’t just look out the window at it, go for a walk in it. And if there is a park nearby, even better.

Have a game night as Christmas approaches. Checkers or monopoly if you still have an old board lying around. Or better still make up a game or two on your own. A kind of family project. It may not be the greatest ever played, but they will be all yours.

There are many kinds of gifts that can be given at Christmas. Obviously, the nicest one is a nicer you, so work at being a better person than you already are. Work on your smile power. Pack away some patience for use when things get hectic.

This idea isn’t for everyone, but think about it. Is there a widow or widower down the street with their family a thousand and more miles away? How would they feel if you asked them to be a part of your family at Christmas time?

Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions. This year make some at Christmas time. Such as a resolution to be polite to the over-worked sales clerk who isn’t moving as fast as you would like. To pray before you eat if you have gotten out of the habit. To say “Thank you” and “Please” more often. And, yes…OF COURSE… HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.