Advent Calendar XV

I sometimes wonder why Christmas is such a "Big Thing", of course in many ways that is purpose of Advent, to contemplate on and prepare for the festival that starts with Christmas day.   Of course for Christians we are celebrating the birth of Christ (not the anniversary of his birth!) but what has that got to do with trees, the exchange of gifts, the over eating and over drinking.

Over the last few years, or should that be decades, I have become increasingly aware of what has become known as the Party Season, and many of those parties are simply there because of the time of year.   For those of us who are dependent on hours of daylight it is the time of year when we pass the shortest day and start to move towards spring, which something worth celebrating ~ if we have anything left in the store houses.    It was also the time of the Roman Saturnalia and Germanic Yule. Somehow, as a society, we seem to have parts of each of these celebrations without the meaning of any of them.

So, I will accept holy wreaths and Christmas trees, I will exchange gifts, and I will be celebrating with friends, but I will try not to forget what, and why I am celebrating. And I will try not to return myself to penury in the process!