Christmas past and Christmas present
The Christmas season has always been an important time in all our lives. We enjoyed celebrating the special traditions that enabled our children to get excited with anticipation as to what was coming. Let’s look at the past and the present and see how many traditions have been taken out of our children’s lives.
I remember when our kids were growing up, no one would think of decorating until after Thanksgiving.
Even all the stores would not stack their shelves or decorate until after that holiday. All store owners kind of respected each other.
It was like magic. Overnight, you would see great Christmas displays in the store windows that would light up kids and parents faces. Decorations everywhere. They would play all the special Christmas music. Stores would take pride in their displays.
The stores would even close at a reasonable time on Christmas Eve and would stay closed on Christmas day, so employees could be with their families.
They respected tradition and the importance of family being together.
families would decorate their homes inside and out, go together to pick out the tree and trim it together. They would all go to church to give praise for the birth of our savior. People would send cards to their family and friends, to help them to appreciate the beauty of the season of Christmas. We would do our best to make sure that our kids would enjoy the excitement of Santa Claus, dreaming about what he would bring. We would display the nativity scene so our kids could learn about the birth of Jesus. Making cookies and putting some of them out as well as hot chocolate for Santa. A lot of parents enjoyed it as much as our kids did.
We all knew that Christmas brought stress, but I think that most of us would agree that the way we celebrated it in the past, was a joy and was worth it.
Let’s see how it compares with Christmas present.
Today, businesses have become so obsessed with making money and getting control that they have lost respect for Christmas and their employees. A lot of stores stay open on Christmas Eve and Christmas. They limit what carols they play, limit their workers from saying “Merry Christmas.” Nativity scenes are not being displayed in our malls and businesses.
What about we parents, what have we done to change the way we celebrate Christmas. Are we letting our kids be able to dream about Santa Claus and the gifts that he will bring, for as long as they can? Do we go get our tree together and do we trim the tree as a family? What about letting your children write a letter to Santa and leaving hot chocolate and cookies for him before they go to bed on Christmas Eve? How many of us display the manager scene in our home or outside of our homes today?
Are we looking at this special time of year, as a burden?
How many of us stopped sending Christmas cards because we feel it is too expensive or an inconvenience? What about the traditions that enabled our kids to enjoy the fantasies and dreams of being a child?
The owners of the stores are in business to succeed, but in doing so, a lot of them have forgotten about the spirit of Christmas.
We as customers can do something to bring some of the traditions back by requesting to the managers that they play Christian carols, too. Have their employees wish us Merry Christmas, if that is their belief. My wife and I did this, and it worked. Maybe, ask the managers to attempt to get the okay from their bosses to display the nativity scene for us Christians.
Come on people, let’s put a smile back in our hearts and our kids, too. Bring back the forgotten traditions. Our children deserve to experience them like our parents did for us. Start wishing everybody that we come in contact, “Merry Christmas.” Some people at first might look at us like we are crazy, but don’t let that stop you. They will catch on.
To all Christians, have a blessed and Merry Christmas and to all others, have a blessed holiday.
God bless all Americans.
Gene Barnhart
McClellandtown