Hmmm, how can we celebrate Christmas in the face of so many trials and tribulations?
Christmas 2022 is just around the corner. It will be a little merrier this year than the last two years as families can gather together with no cap on their numbers. It can be a live and in person event rather than a Zoom Christmas.
Oh, but the weather bomb just now hitting Southern Ontario is going to make travel difficult if not impossible through Saturday. Anyone needing to travel a long distance to visit may be out of luck if they were unable to leave a few days early. If you are waiting for that last minute gift to arrive from Amazon, the weather may scuttle that too.
There is also the issue of runaway inflation. Soaring food prices are forcing many to scale back their Christmas Day dinner. Gas prices also factor into the equation. Although they have dropped from their historic high water marks earlier in the year, they are still high and may force some to curtail their travel plans.
If you have family in the Ukraine, Iran, China or other countries in turmoil, celebrating may be the last thing on your mind. Worrying for loved ones may be weighing you down. My heart goes out to you if you are living that reality.
Heaven help you if you need to take yourself or a family member to a hospital emergency room on Saturday. Long wait times mean you may still be in the queue on Christmas morning. I sincerely hope that is not the case for any of you.
If you are a dedicated health care professional who works at a hospital and is not on shift Christmas Day, you may have downsized your celebration plans simply because you are so fatigued and so stressed. I feel for you. You deserve much better working conditions.
This is not an exhaustive Oh but if list. There may be other complicating circumstances I have not covered. My apologies if I overlooked your difficult circumstances. They are not any less significant because I have failed to include them.
How do we go about having a Merry Christmas in light of all of these complicating factors? It is not an easy question to answer. As much as I would like to have a magic wand to wave to make things better, I am not Harry Potter.
But I believe the answer lies in finding our way back to the true meaning of the season. Wrapping paper and pretty bows, strings of light and strands of tinsel, platters of turkey and bowls of Christmas pudding are the ways in which we celebrate but not the why.
The why is three wise men following a star, an angel appearing to shepherds tending their flocks in the field and a baby in a manger who would change the world for all time. It is about hope everlasting in the face of all trials and tribulations.
Merry Christmas from my home to yours. May the true meaning of the season be your greatest gift this year.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: Christmas · Jesus · metaphor · Michael Robert Dyet · three wise men · true meaning of the seasonNo Comments