Christmas is a time for giving and appreciation |12 December 2014

Already, another year is about to come to an end. The festive season is already in the air and a new year will begin soon after. Most likely, you are already racking your head to come up with that perfect gift for your loved ones, and even more so for that special someone in your life. Although, in all honesty, some of us are also silently cursing the fact that it’s the time of the year when the salary comes in early, but it’s gone just as quickly.

Christmas is, in my opinion, the most celebrated holiday of all. According to Christians’ lore, it is revered as the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the son of God, and the saviour of us all. It is not certain what is the exact day and month of Jesus’ birth, but the Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 to celebrate Christ’s birth, and it is also the closing of the liturgical year, also referred to as the church year.

During the weeks leading up to Christmas, there are various traditions that are followed by billions of Christians around the world and some non-Christians as well. These include various types of decorations and lights of all colours, shapes, and sizes that adorn the houses and streets. I believe that there are three things that symbolise the epitome of the Christmas holidays, and they are Father Christmas, Christmas songs and the Christmas tree. In my opinion these are the three things that if you see and hear during anytime of the year, you will undoubtedly remember Christmas.

Here in Seychelles the grandeur of Christmas over the decades seems to have reduced to a certain degree, but it does not mean that the Christmas spirit has been lost to us. As we get ever closer to Christmas and the New Year, there are songs that are played on the radio that never fail to put you in the holiday mood. Then there are also the shops in town, all dressed up in red, and covered in as many Christmas light as they possibly can, all bent on attracting as many people as possible to their shops, hoping they will buy something. Christmas is indeed one of the busiest and most profitable times of the year for many businesses, since presents are bought, and artificial Christmas trees have all but replaced the traditional casuarina tree (pye sed). As Christmas gets closer, everything Christmas comes out of the boxes, and on to the shelves.

One other norm associated with Christmas is the giving of gifts, especially to the children. As far back as I can possibly remember, the thing that I used to look forward to the most when Christmas was near was the number of presents I will receive on that day. I remember the smell of the freshly cut casuarina tree in the living room, covered from top to bottom with all manner of decorations, from little Santas, to little reindeers, and the rhythmic blinking of red, green, yellow, blue of the Christmas light. We all remember the failed attempt to stay awake on Christmas Eve night, whereby we lie awake in bed, wondering if Old Saint Nick has brought us the gifts we’ve been wanting all year. And as soon as day breaks on Christmas day, we are off to the living room, and at that moment we have one single thought in our head, and that is presents. In that instant everything wrong that has happened over the year is set aside and is replaced by sheer delight, joy and love of Christmas time.

Let us also remember those who are not as lucky as we are and live in countries torn by war, famines, and presently the West African countries which are facing the deadly threat of the Ebola virus. Let us remember the doctors and nurses who are sacrificing their lives in order to provide whatever help they can to those that have been infected. Say a prayer for the children in war torn countries who have been made orphans, for the parents who have lost their child, for the wife who is now a widow, for the husband who is now a widower, and for everyone else who will not be celebrating Christmas, but who will be living in fear for their lives and that of their loved ones.

Christmas is not only a time for festivity but also a time to reflect upon your life and decide whether the choices you have made were made with the best of intention at heart or rather with selfish and self-serving desires, intended at furthering your ambitions, no matter who you have hurt along the way. It is a time to make amends, to those you love and have hurt, but also to those you consider as your enemies or foes. It is a time of self healing, a chance to decide upon taking a more righteous path, cast away all the things that have tied you down and prohibit you from becoming the best of who you could have become. Christmas is a time representing the birth of hope, the beginning of salvation and the promise of a better time to come, whereby peace, joy and happiness should be in the hearts of everyone. It is a time for giving and a time for appreciation. Appreciation for the world we have been blessed to call home, appreciation for the ones that offer us their time and love, but most of all, appreciation for our ability to feel, joy, love and hope.
Merry Christmas to all, and may you receive the gift you need, rather than the gift you want.

K. B.