Ho ho holiday season is coming up!
Sparkling decorations, evergreen garlands, colorful lights, shiny wrapped gifts and loads of chocolate and delicious sweets! The streets are washed in red, gold, and green. The excitement rises up and anticipation seeps into everyone's heart.
Christmas is celebrated worldwide by billions of people. It does not matter if you decorate a fir, pine or even a mango tree like our friends in India do…It is equally thrilling to wait for Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Papa Noël, or good old Befana to bring their blessings and gifts...Whether snowy and freezing Christmas like in Canada or sunny and hot as in New Zealand:
It is still Christmas!
Indeed, many people in many countries are celebrating Christmas in many ways. Yet, are they celebrating the same thing?
Wait...
What exactly is Christmas about, and why are we celebrating it? Is this a religious holiday honoring the birth of Jesus? Is it a relic of ancient winter festivities? Or maybe it is merely a cultural holiday?
Religious or secularists, from the northern hemisphere or from the southern one: Despite the differences in beliefs, celebratory traditions, and customs, one theme is shared by them all: In its very essence, Christmas is a family holiday!
Regardless if the family is based on biological relations, marriage, or pure friendship. Christmas is the time you spend together with your loved ones. It starts with the preparations beforehand (cooking, decorating, buying) and culminates into the traditional family meal. Eating and drinking, conversing, singing, laughing, hoping...
Under your Christmas tree, piling gifts await for little hands to grab them. Deep inside, you undoubtedly realize that the best gift you can give, and the only one that will last forever, is the sweet memory of this rejoiced gathering.
Merry Christmas!
