“Whatever happened to Christmas?” my running partner sniffed on a cold December morning.
Many people find Christmas to be nothing more than drudgery and long for a more simple, less stressful holiday.
It’s an easy trap to fall into, and one – just ask my wife – that I trip into every Christmas yelling and screaming.
After more than 30 years in the newspaper industry, it’s too easy to get caught up in the maelstrom of tight work deadlines and those over-indulging social commitments at this time of the year.
Luckily, I’m always able to find my Christmas spirit. It just takes a little longer than most; sometimes a few days before Dec. 25, oftentimes in the final hours of Christmas Eve.
Christmas means different things to many of us.
Some ready themselves for a seasonal religious experience. Many more will settle in for a quiet day of rituals with family that have been carried on across generations.
Whatever the choice, there is something special about Christmas.
My running friend may be searching for his true meaning of Christmas, but most of us have found ours in our familial way.
For my family, it’s about coming together as one. The religious aspect has never been part of our celebration, but that’s what makes Christmas unique – the fact it is different for each of us.
While Christmas’ foundation is built around the Christian belief, many non-Christian traditions have become part of the celebration, from the Roman licence to make merry, to the Germanic rites of holly wreaths and mistletoe.
The true wealth of Christmas is in its central theme. It’s not about gifts, but what we give and how we show love and compassion to those around us. With those thoughts to ponder, a joyous and fulfilling Christmas to you all.
•••
This may sound more like something that should be in a Thanksgiving column, but there are a few people who I would like to thank for a wonderful year.
To start with, I wouldn’t be here without you, dear reader. You’re the reason we publish our newspaper week after week and fill our website every day with breaking news stories. To our advertisers, thanks for all the support in the past, today and in the future.
The Victoria News editorial and sales staff – it couldn’t be done without you. A special tip of the hat to my news team: Don Descoteau, Dan Palmer, Don Denton, Sharon Tiffin and Travis Paterson.
Publisher Penny Sakamoto, sales director Oliver Sommer and circulation director Bruce Hogarth are always a great inspiration to me.
But most of all, I’d like to thank my wife, Teresa, who always manages to get me over the hills and through the valleys.
Kevin Laird is editor of the Victoria News.