It's Christmas time again, and for some, that means nothing more than longer work hours...but for a few, it means so much more. I'm not sure why, but I've always loved Christmas time. I find the atmosphere wonderful and I like the hustle and bustle of the shoppers around town. However, I've recently noticed how more and more people absolutely hate Christmas and it's really starting to get me down.
To start off, my Christmases have always been awesome. As a child, Mum would fill her home made Advent calendar pockets with small items (often toys from the Kinder eggs that she would hide without my noticing). Even if I got most of my presents before the day, I would still get 2 or 3 wrapped up surprises under the tree. I also had a huge Christmas stocking in my room that my parents would fill with soft items such as toys and clothes. Times were good. But all this is making it seem rather shallow. It sounds like the only joy of Christmas were the gifts... but believe me... those were only a fraction of the joy.
You see, most of the reason I loved Christmas came from something much more meaningful. One example is that my dad and I would set up and decorate the house together. That used to be some awesome quality time. Mum and I used to take care of and water the Vetch (gulbiena) together... and again, quality time. We would set up the nativity statues and even stop to say a prayer in front of them before leaving the house. We would go shopping together to find gifts for the people we love and imagine how happy they would be for getting something they could use. We'd listen to our favorite Christmas songs in the car and sing out loud like a bunch of goofballs. We'd dance in the streets of Valletta as the Christmas songs blasted from the speakers outside. We'd make hot chocolate for one another and watch TV together. Sometimes we'd even have relatives over and I would spend some time with them too. One instance I remember is making paper flowers with my Auntie Tessie and we later affixed them to the manger that belonged to our porcelain baby Jesus in my house's entrance. Those flowers are still there after almost 20 years and they still look good as new. Then on Christmas eve, Mum would dress me up in my best winter clothes and we'd go off to midnight mass. I used to love seeing certain people at mass that I wouldn't see on other days due to them living somewhere else. I loved seeing so many people in the church... but the best thing about the mass was seeing both my parents beside me singing along to the wonderful tunes as the church lights lit up the wonderful red decorations around the columns.
Yes, I found all this fascinating. The spirit of Christmas was truly alive. But the best part of it all was opening the presents in the morning, going over to my Auntie Tessie's house to show her what I got, then hand her the gift we bought for her and watch as her face lit up with joy. Even if it was the cheapest, ugliest thing ever, she would love it and thank me greatly. We were never rich, so these gifts were often home made...but believe me when I say those were the best gifts. My Aunt often gave me cardigans she'd knit herself. We'd sit together and wait for the Pope to wish us a Happy Christmas in Maltese on TV... we'd cheer and sit to eat together. We'd pop the Christmas crackers and wear the silly hats at the table. We'd help with the cleaning up together... it was wonderful. We'd end the afternoon watching the Christmas cartoons on TV like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Town Santa Forgot".
It was special for me and it still is. It never occurred to me that Christmas was all about Consumerism, cause in reality, IT WASN'T. It's only lately that the media has made it sound like the most important thing about Christmas is buying expensive gifts for people you barely know or might not ever see again. The shops keep pushing the sales in your face and keep making you feel like if you don't buy something unnecessarily expensive, then you don't love your relatives enough. I'm already tired of the Christmas carols cause I've been unwillingly hearing them since the beginning of November. It's become absolutely ridiculous now. I still love Christmas, but I hate seeing stupid people obsessing because their boyfriend didn't buy them the Trilogy ring and therefore doesn't love them enough... or people worrying that their friend won't like the 200 euro watch they bought for them... or how they're pissed off they got a 50 euro gift after buying the person a 400 euro gift. It's disgusting.
These people have apparently never heard of "It's the thought that counts". For me, a present represents something the person will be glad for getting because 1) They needed/ wanted it 2)It came from you 3)It shows that you went out of your way to find something the person would like getting and didn't just buy a gift simply cause you had to.
I have no problem with buying gifts and the "consumer" side of Christmas as long as it's not done simply cause it's expected... and everyone has to admit they love getting gifts... but who needs a 600 euro gift that the person will be afraid of using because it's too expensive?
Still... I don't think it's any reason to start hating Christmas... there are still people who care about the "Christ" in "Christmas". If you're someone who doesn't care... don't call it Christmas. If you're someone who still cares, see you at midnight mass :D
p.s Sorry for the long post
