Merry Christmas. There, politically correct or not, I’ve said it. But take it as you will. Maybe “live long and prosper” is of equal sentiment. Or, the way things are going, (fill in your own entity), “… rest ye merry gentlemen, may nothing” … hunger, poverty, inhumanity, slavery, and disaster … “you dismay…”)
Whatever, I’ll certainly give you the liberty to substitute any prophet or wise man you might want to mention. Then again, you don’t have to make a choice at all. Feel free, regardless of your belief or non-belief, to buy all the stuff you want and put it on easy chair or a couch if you’re absent a lit-up tree. If you follow the Old Ways, you might want to both celebrate Mother Earth and revel in the sun’s reversing itself, promising the beginning of the great cycle of the new year.
I’ve heard that Jesus was actually born in April, but the missionaries spreading the faith decided, since the pagans they were trying to convert already had an after-Solstice party going, it might be an apt time to make the celebration about the birth of Jesus and not ruin all the fun. Besides, having a dependable, hopeful evergreen, a glowing Menorah, or, in keeping with the current spirit of the holidays, a burning cardboard box, or no symbol of the season whatsoever, makes a lot more sense than trying to make a wreath out of crocuses.
By any accounts it will suit us well to remember no clergy, no zealot, nor king had any hand in what may have or may not have happened that April, October, February, or December night.
If all of us forgot our petty differences and heeded the message of hope, brotherhood, humanity, and regard for our fellow man, then, regardless of whatever took place and wherever it occurred, we all just might find a miracle worth believing in.
