Christmas is for All

Between the growing popularity of Halloween and the high holy day of Super Bowl, Americans have developed a season of festivities that now accounts for nearly a quarter of the calendar year. Thanksgiving and Christmas vie for favorite holiday, but there’s really no question about which generates the most parties, has its own unique musical repertoire, sustains the economy, and continues to serve as the centerpiece for all the other falderal. Those who urge us to remember the reason for the season certainly have their point, but they somehow miss the fact that Jesus’ birth (observed) is but one aspect of a much larger phenomenon. The principles of peace, love and goodwill that are lifted up at Christmas benefit from the residue of genuine thanksgiving and segue perfectly into the hopes and dreams for a new year. It doesn’t bother me that the focus has shifted from the manger to the world because that’s what I understand the Christ’s mission to be in the first place. It certainly does no harm to recall the incredibly humble origins of the celebration, but it would be wrong—in my opinion—to restrict the observance to a particular dogma or creed. Christ is for the world! And it would seem that, ala Desiderata; the universe is unfolding as it should.