Twas the Night before Christmas

It is a quiet night, tonight, on Christmas eve, that I have decided to write a little something on my blog. Tomorrow is Christmas day, the day I had long been looking forward to, with eagerness and joy, yet I am somewhat overwhelmed with a feeling that something  is not quite as it used to be. Maybe, just maybe, I’m getting a bit sentimental.

When I was a kid, some 15 years ago, Christmas was the happiest day of the year (besides Chinese New Year), and Santa Claus was real. As Christmas day got nearer, I was the one who usually dragged the Christmas tree out of the store room, and before you know it, a fully-decorated tree complete with those blinky lights would be standing tall and proud in that one corner of my living room.

As a kid, I didn’t really care that Christmas had always been about the celebration of Christ’s coming into this world, for at that time, all that mattered the most was who got the biggest, or most expensive present under the tree.

Today got me thinking, and thinking hard about the true meaning of Christmas.

Have the times changed.

Now much older and wiser, I have come to realize that Christmas day, as special as it is, is not about Christmas trees, Santa Claus and his merry elves, presents and all that we were led to believe in. Christmas is about renewal. The renewal of vows and promises, and commitments that we make to ourselves and to those whom we love and care for, for the betterment of the year to come.

As we embrace ourselves to meet the challenges of the year ahead, let us all, in the spirit of this joyous occasion, wish each other a blessed and merry Christmas.

 

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