CHRISTMAS/GIFTMAS

I remember decades ago like it was just yesterday sitting on the top steps of our staircase with my little brother in our pajamas waiting to catch a glimpse Santa Claus determined that this would be the year we would see him. It never happened. With the best of intentions we always fell asleep before he came down the chimney and left us 2 toys, 3 if we were extremely lucky.

In the afternoon we would visit with our extended family – I still remember the aroma of the food that the women were cooking in the kitchen while the men were watching a game of football in another room. Aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins would all sit down to eat. I’d have a large bowl of my Uncle Joe’s cheese, onion and garlic potatoes while for dessert I’d have my own loaf of Aunt Sophie’s home made raisin bread which she made en masse, without a written recipe and which not one of her daughters can duplicate today.

At the end of the day the women would be singing Polish Christmas carols while cleaning up in the kitchen. In the next room the men smoked cigars, drank beer, and had discussions about the politics of the 50s which sometimes became heated until the women reminded them it was Christmas. Wasn’t too many years later that I realized it was a scam and I don’t think I’ve been the same ever since.

The reality is that it’s just another pagan holiday that organized religion took over, declared as its own then proceeded to debase and finally destroy the significance. The winter solstice was celebrated by those who preceded the believers in the monotheistic religions that rose up in the deserts of doubt and delusion and were spread throughout the known world by the sword – onward Christian soldiers.

In fact things I’ve read indicate that the historic Jesus was born in March or April and the Roman church “decided” to use December 25 because people already referred to that date as the birth of different Gods e.g. Dionysus, Osiris, et al

This year Christmas was especially enjoyable for a cynic like me. The Catholics moved mid-night mass to 10:00pm because the Pope allegedly needed rest. Couldn’t he catch up on his holy sleep after mass or free up his schedule a couple of days before Christmas? I mean really how absurd. Bad enough the Catholic Church went to a Saturday night mass so the flock could sleep in on Sunday morning.

Yet the highlight came when a woman knocked over the 83 year old pontiff on his way to perpetuate a Christmas ritual that began nearly 400 hundreds after the baby Jesus was born. Italian authorities claimed she was “unstable” without mentioning that perhaps it was the religious ritual that was unstable.

After all this time I’m fed up with people asking “Are you ready for Christmas?” What does that really mean? What does “Christmas/christmas” really mean to those who ask? Perhaps gluttony of gifts and alcohol. And you hear it in the question” “Did you do all your shopping? No longer even asking about your “Christmas” shopping? It’s understood to be for “Christmas”.

In memories of Christmas past my mother would hand notes to friends and family. A tradition I continued until this year because I finally tired of receiving Christmas cards from people too lazy to do more than sign their names to a sentiment expressed by someone else.

The state of the retail/retale industry makes the news daily thereby defining whether or not it’s a “good” Christmas for the economy i.e. for them. Their bottom line insofar as “Christmas” is “profit” and the media plays the role of reminding the viewer you how many days they have left.

What an opportunity for the ultimate ponzi scam to occur - convince the people that the day they celebrate the birth of their savior should be done so by “giving” and repeating ad nauseam that “it’s better to give than receive” begging the question: “what should I give?” while advertising execs are all too eager to provide the answer to that set up question - “gifts” to be given for a price.

The public goes into more plastic card debt to take advantage of those “Christmas sales” that now start after Halloween and buy their “Christmas” presents early. Besides there aren’t many people who can pass up “a sale” buying something they really didn’t need but “sold” to them that they “needed it” that’s why they call it “a sale” and better yet “a Christmas sale” because after all it’s about “giving”, “giving gifts” in particular as if “giving” only has merit if there is a monetary denomination involved.

Christmas is in fact Giftmas and it’s nothing but a scam – socialize the children into believing there is a over weight white man in a red suit who travels around the world in 24 hours on a sled driven by flying reindeer, then over indulge the child with a boat load of toys that get broken, forgotten or lost before next year’s frenzy and when the child is old enough then indoctrinate them into believing yet another myth – the one where the baby Jesus was born and celebrate the birth once a year to perpetuate the fraud.

More disappointing though is that once again Pope will pray for peace yet another year to a God that isn’t answering. Perhaps we’re putting all our faith in a God that just doesn’t exist outside of the minds of the lazy who prefer to get on their knees and beg for something rather than accept responsibility for their actions - how intellectually dishonest and lazy to create an imaginary friend that doesn’t demand more of his creation.

At the end of the day I guess we prefer symbol over substance, fabrication over fact and myth to reality. Indeed these preferences appear in our everyday social and political interactions. Why bother to have peace on earth, good will toward all men if it only applies to the day of the birthday party when the guests all seemed to remember to buy something for somebody else but have forgotten all about the birthday boy and a message of hope for a better world.