“He sent a note to Santa For some soldiers and a drum, It broke his little heart When he found Santa hadn’t come” (Nat King Cole)

Yesterday, I went out to the nearby mall to finalize the Christmas shopping list. My final stop was in a stationary where I could buy cards to accompany the gift wraps. However; what I found at the shelves forced me to verbalze a feeling of some years. Out of those hundreds Christmas cards lined on the shelves, one and just only one card has the image of the birthday boy, Jesus Christ; of course with His “parents” Mary and Joseph. The rest carried the image of a fat, grandfatherly figure in a red suit with white-collar and cuffs named Saint Nicholas aka Santa Claus.

If I say Christmas has lost its meaning and value, I would not be alone or the first one for the claim. But, seriously, is Christmas a birthday for Saint Nicholas or Jesus of Nazareth? It seems to me that black belted Santa successfully performed a coup détat against Christ and replaced the barn sheep and calves by his reindeer and elves. So, what is right to say; Merry Christ-Mas or Merry Santa-Mas?

Ignoring its religious significance and beauty, Christmas has become all about gift and party. I am not playing God to pose the verse “IS THAT WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO?” But we shall ask ourselves: do we really follow Jesus and his instructions? If not, who are we following and how can our celebration of Christmas justify the subject behind?

I have no grudge on Christmas mania, on the feast and exchange of gifts; rather I am a part of it. I shall have no sense to make if I try to oppose the riches from enjoying or worshiping their earthly wealth and deities. Yet we must not forget that it is a day that Christ gave up all his heavenly possessions to become human just like you and me, to write us a living manual how we shall live our lives.

Is that what you call a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?( Isaiah 58 ^6-8)

If you look around, surely, everyone agrees that we have lost track … Jesus has been lost out. Christmas neither is a national day nor is religion a nationality. Both (Christmas and religion) are acquired not hereditary. We need to have knowledge and better understanding to follow or practice the acts and principles which make the world a better place. It really pains me when I see dictators and so called leaders, as if they have any faith, try hard to decorate their house with lights and Christianity symbols. It is ridiculous those who worshiping brutality, exercise cruelty with no sense of humanity attend the church mass and deliver the public speeches on the occasion.

Christmas is more than an event of feast and vacation. It is also a symbolic day of love, compassion and forgiveness to others. Make it a time to remember the weak, the feeble, the children, the poor and the old, the diseased, and so on. For me, this is what Christmas is all about! Otherwise, I shall move back to the old school of theory which believes the celebration has nothing to do with Christmas. It is all about Yule, a pagan celebration to mark the end of the winter and shorter nights; an occasion with large amounts of eating, drinking and merrymaking. Wish you Merry Santamas the HEARTLESS!

I believe we should do more than the previous generation to educate the children: to cultivate and preserve the value of Christmas as the birth of Christ aka Prince of Peace. Milk Santa’s gift sack with the percept of God. Our kids need to learn and practice the real, unconditional joy found in the holy testament with or without the candy gift. As it says, the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes (Psalm 19: ^7-9)

Don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying our dedication to the good shall be defined in the absolute boundary of Christmas day. It is my strong belief that with His grace, each and every breath of a Christian should be a song to praise the Most High; regardless of weekday, weekend or holiday.

Anyways, no matter how much we are suffering under the iron grip of lords and madams of evil that married to devil, no matter how much cold we are in the middle of winter, no matter how much pain and loneliness weighs within our hearts far from home and families, I and my friend got one reason to cheer Christmas: it is the first day that Christ became a refugee.

You know, Christmas comes but once a year for every girl and boy,
The laughter and the joy they find in each brand new toy.
I’ll tell you of a little boy that lives across the way…
This little fella’s Christmas is just another day.
He’s the little boy that Santa Claus forgot,
And goodness knows, he didn’t want a lot.

In the street he envies all those lucky boys,
Then wanders home to last year’s broken toys...
Nat King Cole (The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot)

Merry Christmas and Happy New year all!