CHRISTMAS is celebration; and celebration is instinct in the heart. With gift and
feast, with scarlet ribbon and fresh green bough, with merriment
and the sound of music, we commend the day—oasis in the long,
long landscape of the commonplace. Through how many centuries,
through how many threatening circumstances, has Christmas been
celebrated, since that cry came ringing down the ages, "Fear not: for,
behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a
Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11 KJV)
Christmas is celebration, but the traditions that cluster sweetly
around the day have significance only if they
translate the heart's intention—the yearning of the human spirit to
compass and express faith and hope and love. Without
this intention, the gift is bare, and the celebration a touch of tinsel, and the time without meaning.
As these attributes, exemplifying the divine spark
in mankind, informed the first Christmas and have survived the onslaughts of
relentless time, so do they shine untarnished in this present year of our Lord.
Faith and hope and love, which cannot be bought or sold or bartered, but
only given away are the wellsprings, firm and deep of Christmas celebration. These
are the gifts without price, the ornaments incapable of imitation, discovered only
within oneself and therefore unique. They are not always easy
to come by, but they are in unlimited supply ever in the province of
all.
THIS CHRISTMAS, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion, and
replace it with trust. Write a love letter. Share some treasure. Give a soft
answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and
deed. Keep a promise. Find the time. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an
enemy. Listen. Apologize if you were wrong. Try to
understand. Flout envy. Examine your demands on others. Think first of
someone else. Appreciate. Be kind; be gentle.
Laugh a little. Laugh a little more. Deserve confidence. Take up
arms against malice. Decry complacency. Express
your gratitude. Go to church. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a
child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your
love. Speak it again. Speak it still once again.
These are but inklings of a vast category; a mere scratching of the surface. They
are simple things; you have heard them all before; but their influence has never been
measured.
Christmas is celebration, and there is no celebration that compares with
the realization of its true meaning—with the sudden stirring of
the heart that has extended itself toward the core of life. Then, only
then, is it possible to grasp the significance of the first Christmas—to savor in the
inward ear the wild, sweet music of the angel choir; to envision the
star-struck sky, and glimpse, behind the eyelids the
ray of light that fell athwart a darkened path and changed the world.
Happy Holidays
The Editors of McCall's,
December, 1959
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