Friday, January 1, 2010

Merry Christmas! And to all a Happy New Year! I have titled this entry the Twelve Days Of Christmas because I want to manipulate the passage of time a little. The approach of Christmas came so quickly and it was such a busy time that the anticipation that I usually savour got a little misplaced this year. It doesn't help when the marketing gurus eliminate Christmas from their calenders. Once upon a time the sequence of events was something like this: Christmas shopping, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years. But now, Boxing Day Sales started in November (Sears) and of course are pretty common during the week leading up to Christmas. So, for all intents and purposes, Christmas is eliminated.

But in my mind I wanted to start Christmas on Christmas Day. I think it used to be like that for a lot of people. The tree would go up on Christmas Eve and all the visiting would happen on that day and after. It was a period of celebration, of religious ceremony, of family togetherness. That is the way I would like it to be. To hear a Christmas carol in a coffee shop on December 28th. To hear a Merry Christmas on December 30th. Christmas is too big an event, too important a time of year to have a build up of months and then have it slam into a brick wall of finality on Boxing Day. Let it linger. Christmas is the beginning of the year in some Christian churches. Ordinary time ends as Advent begins. Let it linger. Spread out the magic like a big net and see what you catch inside. See what sticks. Merry Christmas.