Shiny Ornaments.

Back in the day (who knows when, just seems appropriate to set the stage) ornaments used to be things like candy, cakes, and little toys. “Shiny” things weren’t really a thing until mass production of items and therefore a need to make things shiny came into existence. Now, almost all Christmas decorations have some shine to them. Some glitter, sparkle, glimmer, gloss, all give way to an image of the commercialized, Christmas experience. I make sure to say commercialized, for the original Christmas was anything but shiny. In fact, it was opposite of shiny. I wasn’t there, but mangers and horse stables tend to hold a weathered-wood image in my head.

What makes Christmas so great is unique to each one of us. Some people like the excuse to over eat. Some people like their perception of more cheer, more love, and more giving. Some people are more nostalgic and this time of year reminds them of being a child which could be some of your best memories. Others might find this time of year more inauthentic and wasteful.

Being happy, joyful, merry, are the words of the songs that ring nostalgic truth in my ear as they float over the radio airwaves. There is nothing wrong with these depictions of the holidays as a supplement, unless you don’t actually feel that way. If you are struggling with family, having a hard time getting cheery, or maybe this time of year tends to bring out the superficial and therefore the worst in you, then I say be as authentic as the first Christmas. We don’t have to be bright and shiny to show cheer. In fact, some of the best cheer seems to come from authentic people who show constant care and compassion year-round. If we are being quite honest, rarely are the most cheery and the most bright are the most authentic.

Rarely, are the people who post the most on social media doing as well as their cliché statements depict, the people who say love actually do, or the people who take the most photos having the best time. One might even argue for them being the most sad and showing a shiny exterior to offset those who inquire.

Take a look at Charles Dicken’s Christmas Carol with Ebenezer Scrooge. This poor ol’ fellow had lost his way, no doubt. His friend and business owner, Jacob Marley, had died and he was left to carry on. Now, when the ghosts take Ebenezer through his past, present, and future you can see that he wasn’t actually that bad of a guy and quite honestly people should have let him be if he was content in being so. Just watch again, as the charities ask for money and he logically explains why not. Look to see that he gave his assistant, Bob Cratchit, the day of Christmas off, with pay. There are plenty of employers who don’t do that, not to mention getting paid for it, and this is 2017! Ebenezer was alone he had turned to money sure, but he was authentic, unlike many of the people he encountered who were superficially cheery. Another point was to be made about finances when his nephew Fred comes to his shop and challenges Scrooge to be merry. Scrooge responds with something like, “What have you got to be merry about, you haven’t two pennies to rub together?” Financially, it makes no sense turning the holidays into something so material that how we go about being merry turns into what we buy and display. Even at the end when the eerie ghost of yet to come shows the tombstone with Scrooge’s name on it, shouldn’t everyone’s future ghost show them a headstone?   

So many versions...

What we have here is a conundrum. An antagonistic point of view, so easily cast off as a negative, opinionated statement. Denying harsh opinions that fail to meet our agenda is the truth we do not want to hear. Yet, this is the same truth that may help those who do not like the holidays gain a better understanding of why and as a reminder that they are not “wrong” or “alone.”

25 days!

After all, if you are an authentic person, crave genuine conversations, then the holidays and how they are depicted in the music and through the movies are pretty disgusting when you get down to it. I noticed this long ago, but my nostalgia rings louder than logic. I allow the same songs, the same decorations, the same foods, all to define the holiday. It isn’t until I take a step back, see the bigger picture that I see what is shinny is not always gold.

Christmas is the celebration of Jesus’s birth. The safe, holiday specials depict family and love as a watered-down theme. Instead of the authentic we turn to the superficial, because it is safer, less demanding, doesn’t challenge. Jesus challenges. The story of Jesus being born means that he lived his perfect life as the God-man, and died for the sins of the world.

The real meaning of Christmas is too much, too authentic, too real for people to admit to. Yet, a depiction of Santa Clause, elves in the North Pole, and other holiday characters, including a hippopotamus, are something more child-like and less challenging to hold on to. Just like the niceties of a conversation about weather, sports, or asking how a person is doing without any intent of caring, the holidays can intend to bring about something positive when for many it can suppresses the real. This doesn’t do anything but remind us of the worst parts of a conversation that don’t go anywhere and the lingering expectation that ensues.

Superficial and shiny are typically the most fake, the most hollow, and the cheapest. This doesn’t mean they don’t have a place in this world or that they do not add color to the a dull tree, but we should not depend on them for our reason to celebrate. Shiny ornaments, candied everything, all the ribbons and bows are great, but only accent the truth behind the season. Don’t get too sold on the commercialized depiction of what this time of year means. If you are struggling through the holidays more than others, then maybe you are authentic and find that much of this season is exactly the opposite.