Christmas Isn't the Same for Everyone
The lights are twinkling, the shop windows are decorated, and the first Christmas carols can be heard. People fill the streets laden down with bags. Christmas is coming.
However, although Christmas is celebrated virtually worldwide, no one experiences it in exactly the same way. For example, for children, it’s a time of great excitement, of seeing their parents for longer than they do in the whole year, of meeting people they don’t usually see, of writing a letter to Santa telling him what they want, and of believing that the world is good because the people around them seem to believe it a little more too.
A time of nostalgia
Indeed, as an adult, you tend to experience feelings of nostalgia around this time of year, rather like echoes of your first love. In fact, you probably often feel you’d love to live the magic of Christmas again as a child. Why not join in with them and the excitement of writing a letter to Santa? However, instead of just writing a letter about what they want, show them how rewarding it can be to also write about what they can give.
For some people, Christmas is the time when they most miss those people who’ve gone. Those who sat at the table last year and now are no longer here. You should respect their feelings. They don’t exactly need joy, but they do need to feel understood and comforted.
Nevertheless, instead of feeling that they’re perfectly entitled to be sad, they tend to think that they’re out of sync with the holiday spirit. However, in reality, they’re simply in tune with their own true feelings. For this reason, Christmas is a good time to make sure these people aren’t alone, then their pain and loneliness may well diminish a little.
There are also people who think that Christmas is the perfect excuse to be a little more consumeristic than the rest of the year, to escape for a while, and scatter fairy dust over what they can’t bear in their lives. However, they need to learn that this isn’t what Christmas is all about. Or, they’ll end up as miserable as Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol.
More than a date in the calendar
Maybe Christmas is just a date in the calendar and an excuse to sing Christmas carols and enjoy the lights. However, if it also means giving and being with others what a great excuse it is! In fact, wanting this special time to be extra full of peace and love doesn’t mean that you give up on those sentiments for the rest of the year. Christmas is a special time. It gives an extra bit of color and value to what peace and love really mean.