Hunting for the Real Gifts of Christmas

Malls, retailers, wholesalers and catalogs printer are all making a fortune at this time of the year where buying and selling are a must. With all the catalogs and their inviting coupons landing as thick as the snow in every mailbox, it’s no surprise everyone is on a shopping frenzy. It makes me think twice on what really makes the traffic worse, the shoppers or the snow.

Christmas is a Christian holiday but it’s a pity that the long sermons and pious teachings on generosity are also being preached by store owners and shopping malls in quite a different tune, “The season of giving is a season for shopping.” The word ‘give’ takes on a new impetuous which is buy, buy and buy!

And similar to this notion, I heard on the radio that suicide rates peak during the holidays. Indeed, you can sense it is contrapuntal, a technique used in storytelling where each point are counterpointed. Nothing is quite as tragic and even ironic that people decide to off themselves in the season where Christ offered his life to save mankind. Nothing quite like twisting the meaning of giving into buying. And nothing can quite provide the best backdrop for these situations than the jolly atmosphere of the season

Sigh.

On the first Christmas, Joseph, Mary, and Joseph barely had anything. The child barely had clothes to put on, and the stench of the manger is hardly anything like the sweet smell of cinnamon or eggnogs or pine trees. It must have smelled like the stench of sweaty, earthy and musty animals. Yet they were happy.

Fast forward to present day, what we have instead are scented wreaths and candles and fruitcakes that fill the home. Most of the things that surround us are sparkling and glittering decors like the fake gold of Christmas balls (that are conveniently just as hollow). So while the three wise men were lucky to be able to see through the poverty of the manger to find little Jesus, we continue to find our own treasures in our temples where sales and price discounts lead us to get into the “spirit” of Christmas. Wouldn’t you think that for all that sparkle and hype, the entire glimmer has blinded us to the true light of the shining star?

It’s a pity that Christmas is so cliché when the true spirit of Christmas is so meaningful and immaculate. And you can just as easily find the contrasting and startling differences that unveil themselves in today’s reality - the material versus the immaterial, the giving and the receiving versus the buying and  the spending.

Sigh.

So while we are all going crazy about the gifts, the parties, and the cards we have to send out, I just hope that the light of the star of the first Christmas shines more brightly than the glare of Christmas lights that deck our halls.