Advent: The Coming of Christ

That's What Christmas is About, Charlie Brown?!

Dialogue:

"Are you going Christmas shopping?"

"Yes, of course I am," she said.

"Don’t get anything for me, OK?"

"God, I’ve got so many people on my list!"

He asked, "why don’t you skip it this year?" He continued:

"Would anyone really miss your small gifts?"

She snapped back, "how do you know they’re small?"

"Your budget, amigo."

"I know, there’s no way I can afford all this," showing him her list...

"You sure you have to do it?"

As a retort, she said, "what, are you not "all-in" with the Christmas spirit?"
"Santa’s making a list and checking it twice?"

"That’s bullshit." He said firmly: "What is this season about, capitalism?"

"I’m just doing what everyone else is doing;" "it's called being nice." "I have to."

"That’s how we got here," continuing, "this is a #FakeHoliday if it's all pretty paper and boxes of things."

"Well, what in the hell is it about, Charlie Brown?"

"Don’t go all Linus on me, Chuck" (wink)

"It is a great speech, Linus gives"

[he says softly, like a little boy, "I can tell you what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown"]

Adding, "but watch it closely next time?"

Right when he says “Fear not” – Linus drops his security blanket.

"He doesn’t need it anymore, dude."
"Need what?" she asked. "The security blanket!"

The Savior has come to save us… It’s called Advent (his coming), no more fear...

*The speech from Linus:

https://youtu.be/eff0cqYefYY

*Note: I like to pin a #YouTube video to my writing and this time it is from the famous "Charlie Brown Christmas" shown on ABC in 1965, using the Gospel of Luke, ch 2, verses 8-14, as translated by the Authorized King James Version.

Auld Lang Syne: It's January 2016, can you remember December?

Can you remember December?

In some ways the “memory” is more a part of the event than the actual happening, because it is the only thing we have left. Such is the way we look back on the frenetic month of December from the perspective of January. How did we fit it all in one month? So much of it seemed slow and gauzy at the time, and now it seems as if it flew out of our hands like the wind.

Now that everyone is back at work and re-enrolled in schools, the pace is back to the normal whirring, buzz of the high RPM lifestyle so common in modern society. If there was a chance to rest, reflect, maybe even refresh old relationships over the holidays, now the engine is back to cruising speed and the special holiday times are pushed back into the far reaches of our memory.

As low-key as I tried to craft my December, there was still a lot to remember and many good times with friends, family, past acquaintances, and celebratory gatherings. From old co-workers, high school friends, out-of-state-family, visitors, even parents, siblings, sons & daughters—the past month was a special time of building relationships, sharing joy, good food, gifts, cheer, and memories… But it’s gone.

Is December atypical? Set apart and foreign enough to be ephemeral, outside reality? For some, the holidays represent surviving immense pain, for others it is awash in oblivion, yet it is certainly different every year, and more unrealistic to me as I get older. 

Auld Lang Syne is "for (the sake of) old times" and each December seems to be partly that, and partly a pure money play for the sake of capitalism. As I wrote in my Christmas poem last month, what puts the wind in our sails is something entirely different.

We have a new slate in front of us on which we write the story of the new year. All accounts are back to zero-sum, the value has yet to be added, and frankly we don’t know which way to turn. There’s a feeling of renewal and anxiety balanced with confidence in what we can do, tempered with a healthy respect for present uncertainty; but describing that is like catching lightning. 

It’s the first month of the year, the short hesitation before it soars again, is like the silence before a sonic boom. Even seeing the object move across the sky silently, you wait for the speeding bullet to break the sound barrier.

How long before the average person jettisons their new year’s resolutions? Just a few weeks? Are they gone already? What do I want to accomplish this year? Just setting the goals is the first step in January; but the hard work and persistence required to make real change is the cold water into which we must jump. Good luck.