It’s ten minutes after midnight. You decided to stay up long enough to see the ball drop in Times Square. Now, it feels good to turn out the light and slide under the covers. You feel relaxed even if some fireworks are still being set off by some of your neighbors.
Then comes a lull followed a few seconds later by a dazzling flash of light and a really BIG BANG, then nothing but quiet.
You smile as you realize the folks had purposely saved the loudest for the last. In dramatic fashion, it signaled that the old year was being left behind. At the same time, it shook loose a few flashbacks that insist on being reviewed before you drift off to sleep.
As usual, what began as a trickle, the sight of Christmas decorations at the big box stores even before Halloween, began pulling you away from what you had been doing. Before you knew it, you had found yourself in the fast moving current of Christmas buying and giving.
Every reason to resist seemed to melt under the heat of desire created by the enjoyment of having to decide. What size Christmas tree are we going to have this year, the usual or something different? Maybe we should buy a big inflatable Santa or Snowman to put in front of the house. Then there are those loaves of fruit bread we want to give to neighbors, not to mention the always unpredictable pile of presents to be bought and placed under the tree.
As harried and hurried as it was, it somehow all came together on Christmas morning. The sleeves were a little too long on that shirt for him, but you aced it with the sweater that fit and looked great. She didn’t care much for the earrings, but she went wild over the bracelet. As it is with life itself, when it comes to Christmas, you win some and you lose some. The longer view, however, provides that every gift is not only for a person but also contributes to the spirit of Christmas.
Satisfied with that analysis, you begin thinking about what you saw and heard during the whole of the holiday. Remarkably, you discovered that the old favorite Christmas movies you had seen so many times still had a message. So did all the Christmas music even if the thought of grandma being run over by a reindeer wasn’t all that appealing.
You noticed there weren’t as many mentions of the star and the three wise men who had gifts for the baby Jesus. On the flip side, neither were there as many complaints that the “reason for the season” was being ignored. You speculate that maybe that has been God’s plan all along — have the reason play a subliminal role while allowing all of His earthly children to regard Christmas as a time to be delighted, free if only for a short while to relish the magic of the moment.
Okay, you didn’t like seeing and hearing all the glare, flare and fleshy wiggles going on in Times Square. It wasn’t that the legacy of the legendary and now deceased Dick Clark had been violated, but rather that it was the result of those in charge trying different but questionable ways to celebrate. You could easily imagine the same thing happening in such places as Tokyo, Hong Kong, Adelaide, and London.
Then you suddenly realize all of this isn’t just about you, that surely many others are thinking the same thoughts, asking the same questions. We remember past Christmases and New Years, some with surprising clarity. Along with them are such nagging laments as why are people still killing each other? Why are people still suffering anywhere for any reason? Why is anyone being denied the happiness of this special time of the year? Why are far too many of us being deprived of all of these wonderful bounties we either inherited or have created for ourselves? More importantly, why are we unable to convert even more honest effort and hope into grateful results and solid reality?
Maybe we need to understand that as these events unfold with glitter and excitement, they not only play to what is all around us but also to our consciousness of what yet needs to be done to make a better world.
Behind the wonder of Christmas there might be a purpose we have yet to fully explore. Maybe New Years is not just for joyously preparing us for the future but also to remind us of what we are and how far we have come.
Then there’s the month of January. Merely mentioning it reminds us of having to get back into the groove, get a firmer grip on reality. It strongly suggests that every high is followed by a low that sharpens our awareness of what we need to be but have yet to become, of what we ought to do but have yet to put at the top of our urgent list.
Maybe that last big fireworks boom didn’t signal the end of anything, but rather the beginning of making better.
