Are humbuggers as much a part of Christmas as sleigh bells and carols?

Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is as perennial as Christmas itself.

So too Dr. Seus' How The Grinch Stole Christmas,

and John Grisham's Skipping Christmas.

All of these vehicles attempt to circumvent Christmas and all of them fail.

 

Is Christmas inevitable?

If it didn't exist, would we have to invent it all over again?

Perhaps.

 

What is it that makes Christmas Christmas?

How often have you heard someone say, 

"It doesn't feel like Christmas this year"?

What does that mean?

The immediate answer might have something to do with the weather,

followed by an,

"I don't know, it just doesn't seem like Christmas."

 

If you really ask yourself this question, what would the answer be?

What would reawaken the magic of Christmas that seems to be missing for you?

There might not be an obvious answer to that.

 

Perhaps there are moments that sneak up on you and before you know it, you've created a Christmas memory

that you will long for during a future Christmas season.

It could be a smile from across the room that makes your heart swell to overflowing and boom - it feels like Christmas.

Maybe someone steals a cookie from the batch cooling by the stove and sets off a string of laughter and silliness.

Is it the moments then, strung together like a garland for the tree, that make Christmas,

and all the rest, the madness of shopping, and baking, and being ready in time,

is just a backdrop – the stage set for the moments that provide the magic?

 

Whatever part you play in the Christmas pageant, be patient and

"believe that behind Christmas is something greater than what stands before us."

 

Don't look for the moments, they will find you.

 

 

 

 

 

The bah humbuggery of this post was inspired by a google search for Bah Humbug that led to a charming post by Stephen Arod Shirreffs.

Other parts were spun off from a conversation with Lauren, my godchild who is no longer a child child.

The rest is from my own attempts to skip Christmas, which I now regard as the immovable feast. Try as you might to ignore it, stare it down, or even curse it, it won't go away! In the end, when you make it your own, it kind of works!

So, trust that the moments will come and that the magic of Christmas lies dormant in your heart.

The critter in the photo at the top of this post might have been a whitness to Scrooge's nocturnal visits. He was found hiding in the Southern Lights Candle Shop in St. Augustine, Florida. There are many such remembrances of things past at this unique gift shop.

 

All the very best!

Laine