We all do it…..get melancholy at different times for different reasons but Christmas?
I think Christmas gets a lot of us all at once.
How do I know that?
Look at what happens…..
All year we’ve been on different “teams”…..for or against one thing or another, one person or another, one idea or another AND, we haven’t been very nice about it.
Something has happened to us…..ALL OF US to make us show a lot of ugly.

And then, it kinda started slowly, creeping up in October when the stores took our minds off of all the crap and displayed the ridiculous…..Halloween costumes.
Could you walk in a store in October and NOT stop and look, push buttons, laugh or walk by something that made a horrid noise and scared the crap outta you?
I bet not!
And then up and down the aisles, all the decorations!
For some reason it seemed like lots of us decided to decorate this year.
And the TREATS, oh the treats!
How many bags of our favorite candy did WE go through BEFORE the kids hit the door yelling TRICK OR TREAT?
Does anyone from back east I guess, remember going to the doors and singing, “PLEEEASE HELP THE POOR”?
My group never even heard of TRICK OR TREAT.
We were Catholic school kids.
TRICK?
Well, that wasn’t very nice and would be mean.
Might even end up being a sin…..venial probably!

So, Halloween came.
Our houses were decorated, porch lites on, the kids ran up to the doors with their open bags and gee, I was SO impressed this year with all the “THANK YOU’S.”
Mostly we saw parents standing on the sidewalk waiting, watching, waving and yelling out THANK YOU to us.

Next?
Down with Halloween and up with THANKSGIVING!
FOOD! Lots and lots…..way too much…..FOOD!
We planned for it all month…..the people, the place, the menu.
And again, we came together.
Many of us, the same US who’ve been angry and hostile most of this year, held hands around a table and gave thanks, and we celebrated.
Maybe there was some quiet moments when we remembered days AND people not with us anymore.
This is a real traditional time of the year, we got soft and forget to be angry.

As the last slice of pumpkin pie was being devoured, the shops turned into that magical time, when LOTS of us turn into kids again…..Christmas!

And here we are, Christmas Day is one week away.
Christmas is a time of lots of mixed messages and emotions.
Some of the messages are religious and spiritual, it’s the birth of Jesus.
Some magical as in the arrival of Santa and his bag of goodies.
Our emotions run the gamut.
Some of us go backwards to our childhood when it was all so easy and nothing but fun and exciting and some go back to a nightmare time of drunkenness, fighting and fear.
We think about our family and friends who are no longer with us and we cry because we miss them.
We think about people who won’t be with us because they’re far off somewhere in a strange land doing what they believe in, in the name of freedom and us.
Stores have huge barrels out asking us to contribute with food for the homeless.
People stand on corners and ring bells and ask for our spare change to help.
All kinds of organizations pop up; Toys For Tots, Coats For Kids, The Angel Tree and lots more, all to make it a Merry Christmas for as many as we can.
And something about the season, softens most of us and we give.
We give of our ourselves and volunteer or we empty our pockets a bit and give.
We let go of the name calling and, it makes us feel good.

This is the busy week, everybody.
We’ll run around looking for that last gift, watch the delivery trucks for that promised-before-the-25th item, hurry and send out our Christmas greeting to someone we just got a card from whom we’d forgotten on our list, decide what we’re gonna wear, and then…..curtains up, it’s Christmas Day!

There’s just another side of this I’d like to bring to mind.
As jovial as it all can be for so many of us, it’s that sad for others.
The holidays are a very sad, lonely time for so many of us for lots of different reasons.
Please remember that.
I don’t need to go any further with this.
I know my reader friend that you know what I’m trying to say without dulling all the happy stuff I just wrote and making us want to jump off the nearest bridge!

And those barrels the stores collect with food?
The toys?
The warm clothing?
Sitting with and petting or walking a sweet, abandoned animal in a cage somewhere giving them some human contact?
It’s so awesome but, we need to do this ALL the time, not just December because it’s Christmas.

I’m well aware that I’m a “softie” and maybe there’s some readers who don’t feel like I do.
I’ve heard it, I’ve even felt it.
SOMETIMES when I see a young person on a corner begging with a cardboard sign…..I think to myself, GO GET A FRIGGIN JOB AND WORK LIKE I DID.
But, ya know what?
I don’t think it’s that easy.
It’s WAY bigger than GO GET A JOB!

Maybe we all need to open our eyes, minds and hearts a bit bigger than we have?
Maybe we need to be thankful that it’s not US on that corner?
Maybe we need to realize that we just don’t GET IT?
Maybe we need to smile more this year and gripe less?
Maybe, if we have time we can try to help just one person have a better life?
Join a volunteer organization, deliver meals to people not able to fend for themselves anymore, walk a pet, help kids learn to read.
DO SOME GOOD this year because guess what everybody, all the bitchin’, name calling and yelling we’ve done in 2017 just made all of us more hostile and THAT DOESN’T FEEL GOOD and gets us nowhere!!

ZIP IT, swallow the ugly stuff, get rid of it.
It accomplishes NOTHING.

It’s Christmas time everybody!

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday, Seasons Greetings HOWEVER it makes you happy to hear and a MAGICAL NEW YEAR TO ALL OF US.

xxx