You can lighten up your heart by the love you give and receive during Christmas. Another really, really good way to lighten up is to let go of emotional baggage. And to let go of the obsessions that pretend to be more important than who and what you really love. 


Christmas decorating used to be an obsession of mine. And after watching holiday season commercialism reach a new frenzied high with hundreds of Holiday season spam email in addition to the TV and radio ads, I want to again renew the meaning of Christmas for myself yet again. The word Christmas comes from the words “Christ” and “mass.” Christian mass is an old ritual celebration of Christ’s teachings and his Life and Death. Christmas day is the special holiday or holy day celebrating the birth of Christ, designated by long-ago heads of Church to be close to the solar calendar winter solstice(this day was one that ancient northern people noted was the shortest day of the year. Winter Solstice is a pagan holiday celebrated as the end of the seasonal year and as the start of the days growing longer again, the Sun coming closer to the Earth again.)


Now a question we might ask of ourselves and try to answer is How could a holy day, a day designated for celebrating Christ’s Spirit, become the 8-ball-in-the-corner-pocket for U.S. commercialism today? A few years ago I began to dread Christmas. It was the furious rush of the shopping and the decorating exactness that threw me off my center. The irony of my dread is that the commercialism of Christmas had turned me off years ago. Who invented the phenomenon of the Christmas rush anyway? I did, in my case! Somehow, I got seduced into believing that I too must march to the agitated beat of commercial media portraying Christmas!


Well this year, I plan to again be an “anti-media-Christmas” person. I will continue to simplify how I get ready for Christmas. I started a few years ago, when I stopped being the perfectionist when it comes to holiday decorations, holiday dinner and gifts.


I will share with you that old dirty secret of mine — Christmas decor obsession. One of my petty but hard fixations was creating a dreamy confection of a decorated tree with symmetrically placed, coordinating taffeta ribbons and frosty glass balls. After a couple of years of these “perfect trees” that moi, moi, moi made, I realized I had moments of being uptight and unhappy when a child rearranged or added a handmade decor of theirs. How did I break out of this awful spell? I witnessed Scrouge (or his twin brother) at the grocery store on Christmas Eve. The line was so long and slow that he exclaimed very nastily and huffed out of the store. I wondered what his problem was. Could he be obsessing over his perfectly planned, perfectly-timed Christmas dinner, like me? I realized then that I had to relax and let go of my martha-stewart-christmas-perfectionism. Or I would morph into another clone of Scrouge-a-sneering-and-a-grumbling during Christmas.


Now, the perfect Christmas tree for me is the one my children have fun decorating with me, with my husband and their Lola. Sometimes even one of their friends might be over for decorating. The more the merrier. Handmade, lop-sided cut-out paper trees, snowmen and gingerbread men are included on our “perfect tree”. It is the glow of happiness and pride in my kids’ eyes while we decorate that warm me up for Christmas. Days after we are done, we all love gazing at the twinkle of lights. I know that the delight in our hearts doesn’t just come from the sparkle and dazzle of the decor, but mostly comes from having done the tree up together, together, together.


And so this I know for sure, when I am relaxed, Christmas good will and cheer comes much easier when obsessions are out ofthe way.
So, let us each foster a relaxed attitude while preparing for Christmas Day. Let us rediscover again the celebration of Christ-mas in our hearts. Let’s all take time for slowing down, for quiet and for nurturing our inner spirits, alone or together with loved ones or with those we should love. For Spirit is where Christmas really comes from.

More Links for this Christmas Holiday


Advent of Christmas
A link to an article by Ronald Klug at www.Belief.net. A short read on contemplating the Christ spirit as Christmas day approaches Click here to article at Belief.net.

Pondo ng Pinoy
Please consider being a partner of Archbishop Rosales and his project called “Pondo ng Pinoy” to help the poorest of the poor in Metro Manila under the aegis of the Archdiocese of Manila..For the twenty-eight days before Christmas why not contribute $1.00 a day or a total of $28.00 to the Pondo ng Pinoy You can of course give more if you wish. In the Philippines, he is only asking for P0.25 centavos a day. Yes, twenty-five centavos so that even the poor themselves can participate. In the US, this is a simple way of teaching our children and grandchildren to remember the poor in the Philippines.
The funds can be sent directly to Ayala Foundation USA in San Francisco to help them with the logistics of collecting and remitting the funds for Pondo ng Pinoy.

Giving IS Receiving

• In the Philippine Islands, work with your church, school or organization to organize gift-giving, parties and food for your local children and their families who aren’t as fortunate.
• In the U.S., find your local community United Way, YMCA, or town organization and ask about their Santa Fund or gift giving program to brighten the Christmas spirit to the homes of less fortunate children.