Some After Christmas Thoughts

So another Christmas has come and gone…mounds of food have been consumed, presents have been unwrapped, stomachs have stretched to accommodate too many goodies and naps have been taken in an effort to recuperate from it all. Thank goodness it’s over with! It sort of reminds me of those old Alka-Seltzer commercials – plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!

Still, the Christmas season, despite the rush and the physical after-effects is one that brings much happiness. Sometimes the sheer insanity brings a thrill all its own. Going out at one in the morning to do some last minute shopping actually can get the adrenalin flowing in a way that nothing else can. I actually did that this year – I must admit I kept asking myself if I was nuts, but that was actually part of the fun! And you would be surprised at just how many other folks were out doing the same thing. I wonder if they were asking themselves if they were nuts…

I definitely got one surprise under the tree this year – my wife gave me a Fender 12 string guitar. I owned one many years ago that had been somewhat damaged. I had given it away to the best man at our wedding. I had not played guitar to amount to anything in all the years since, but earlier this year, we had wound up buying a pair of student guitars so that I could take it back up, and teach her a little in the process. Playing was something that I simply hadn’t made time for all these years. I have since rediscovered just how much I enjoyed playing. Evidently Lauren realized this and picked out one that I had played in the store a couple of months back when we had gone in to buy some gig bags. As I write this, my fingertips are sore from playing my new toy! I feel much like Ralphie did in the movie, A Christmas Story, when he received his “Red Ryder BB gun”.

Sometimes life is like that – we get so caught up in the hectic worlds we live in that we forget about things that make us happy. That may be one of the special things about Christmas – the way that it can bring about reflection. The season can be hectic, but if we use some of that time to slow down to think about Christmas and what it really means, it can bring us a peace and happiness that nothing else can. If we stop and consider the birth of a child who was to be our savior, it can open up our eyes to the important things in life. Things like love and family.

As I relaxed through this three day weekend, free from work and the world - if only for a little while, I thought about this notion of slowing down. The quiet moments of Christmas give us an opportunity to do just that. I’ve thought about life’s simple pleasures - whether it’s playing a guitar, spending time with family, or just simply thinking about the birth of a child over 2000 years ago who has made such a difference in my life and in the lives of so many others. Christmas helps to remind us of this, and also to remind us of how we should live the rest of the year…

Hope yours’ was a merry and special one.

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