Happy Holidays! Yes, I’m tired of all things Christmas, so Happy Holidays it will be. I find all of the festive cheer, decorations, and lights to be a facade. The traditions feel like marking time within nostalgia of a past that needs to stay in the past. I don’t want to look back, I want to look forward. I’m also tired of Christmas music. There isn’t a wow factor in it for me. I’m kind of envious of y’all that just exude Christmas Spirit like Buddy the Elf, but if I try to do that, I’m not my authentic self. Over these next few paragraphs I will explain my scrooginess in all of its sordid detail.

I will start with Christmas music. I’ve been a musician for nearly all of my life. I have had to prepare music concerts that celebrate Christmas from around the end of October to well past the actual holiday for all but eight years of my existence. I remember years where I had 20-30 different performances. It paid well. It was a job. It was exhausting. I’ve played 35-40 different arrangements of the same carols for decades. Jingle Bells, Silent Night, O Holy Night, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Deck the Halls, blah blah blah…. It all sounds the same when you have played or sung it a thousand times. When you have to prepare a score for conducting and teaching you hear it differently than if you just play it. Rarely do I find some sort of holiday song that perks my interest. The last Christmas arrangement that really perked my interest was a Carol of the Bells variation that incorporated North by Northwest by Bernard Herrmann within it. That was kind of cool, but after twenty some days of rehearsal I got bored with that too, because it was still Carol of the Bells. Yes, I’m even tired of the Nutcracker, except for the harp solo in Waltz of the Flowers. I never tire of that harp solo. It takes me back to my first pit orchestra experience with the Nutcracker. I sat next to the harpist as a young tuba player. I marveled at the sheer beauty of that solo. I had the best seat in the house for a dozen or so performances. That was epic, but after so many more performances and conducting the music from the suites, I’m just over it. I wonder if the ballet dancers feel that way about the Nutcracker? It is a job. The tedium. The nostalgic traditions. It pays. There isn’t any enjoyment anymore. I just don’t understand why everyone else still loves it after 6,430 hearings.

I’m impressed that people can go to an advent service and sing a carol in the dark with candles and find the symbolism of the experience moving emotionally. I find the whole exercise of recreating a 1st century event musically in the 21st century ironic as the music from the 1st century sounded nothing like it is today. What if we sang 15th or 16th century monophony? Veni Veni Immanuel is quite striking in the original Latin when sung in tune. The English translation O Come, O Come Immanuel just doesn’t live up to the hype. This is what I find amusing about the bible literalists, the music you sing isn’t true to the bible of the time. Am I really the only one who thinks this way? Do you find the irony amusing?

Decorations seem more and more trivial and shallow each holiday season. I went into a couple of restaurants this past week and I was overwhelmed by how much clutter was on every wall, ceiling truss, and crevice. It screamed to me capitalism!!! “We love Christmas more than any other restaurant in the Bi-state region.” Eat here, our burgers sing Jingle Bell Rock. The only decoration that does not feel trivial to me is the Christmas tree. The tree comes from the tradition of honoring the winter solstice by the Pagans. The Christians of old adopted the tradition to ease the conversions of these Earthy people. https://allthatsinteresting.com/christmas-tree-history The natural beauty of having a tree with lights warms my soul as it enlightens our living space with a warm hue. My wife’s trees are a nice aesthetic. It warms my soul during the darkest portion of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Thank you oh ancient ones for the joy that has been stolen from you by the Christian Nationalists of the Middle Ages. I find the honoring of the winter solstice and the science of watching the stars and the Earth’s rotation around the Sun with the decorated tree just divinely honest. The ancient ones made sense of their environment and made peace with it, despite their savagery toward one another on the battlefield over resources.

Then we have the neighbors throughout town with a light display that makes Mid-American Energy shares go up, and their shareholders smile as the profits roll in. The whole Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation vibe is so overdone and trivial. It is overwhelming and again screams, “I love capitalism.” The neighbors with simple lights outlining their porch or a tree is nice. That is humble in the application. It has a simple elegance to it. Chick-Fil-A’s wrapped restaurant is just a baroque kind of gaudy with a capital AWFUL. Less really is more. Blessed be the humble and reverent.

Now there are the gifts. I personally do not need any gifts at all. The symbolism of receiving gifts in the Christian tradition lost all meaning for me in my teens and early 20’s. I prefer giving. I dislike wrapping paper as it is waste. Or the big hutzpah of gathering to watch and everyone making a spectacle. I remember my maternal grandparents reactions when opening gifts. They had very little in terms of luxuries. They worked the Earth. They made their living off of their garden and farm. When they got a gift the light in their eyes was spectacular. I remember when I first got them gifts in my teens from my paper route earnings. It was awe inspiring to see their gratefulness. The tears in their eyes… I like to give with no expectation of anything in return. This is the most wholesome form of giving. That’s what I prefer… Whenever my children or students ask what I want for Christmas my reply is “Nothing, I would prefer to see you get what you want for Christmas.” I am blessed to be married to an angel of light that loves to do the same and then some. It is a joy to see our students and children/grandchildren enjoy their gifts we give them. I wish we had more to give, but one must save to pay for the essentials. Their smiles are all the gifts I need. This whole receiving gifts thing is the expectation of the commercial capitalist economy. I guess that makes me a democratic-socialist… <snicker, snicker> My wife gets me gifts all of the time just to spite me. Meeting and loving her has become my greatest gift in life. She gets a free pass. I’m forever thankful to have her by my side, and I try to give her everything she desires, and sometimes it does not feel like it is enough… Then she says the same thing to me… We embrace… It is enough… and we repeat the process… infinitely… without expectation… I wish everyone could feel that… love… for someone…

The endless commercials, movies, and stories about Christmas. Everything about this capitalist controlled media is variations on a theme. How many different ways can you demonstrate the same ideals. An authentic cadence is always an authentic cadence. There is a feel of finality. Where is the surprise? Where is the gesture of goodwill when it is wrapped in a bow for only 60 payments of $999. Feed the monster this Christmas time! Make the rich, richer and the poor, poorer… buy buy buy!

I guess the final grief I have with all of this “Christmas” stuff is the failure to recognize the other cultures of the world that do not recognize Christmas. It seems to me that the Christian world is so self-absorbed in their own superiority that billions of human beings on this planet do not and will not celebrate the holiday. Why is that? Where is the recognition? Why is the “Christian” community so up in arms about Happy Holidays? Why so scorned? Why are you victimizing yourself? We (Christians) support Israel, but don’t say Happy Hanukkah. Where is the brotherhood? Where is the recognition of our Islamic brothers and sisters? Yes, you read that right. There are millions of Muslims on this planet. They share every resource. They breathe the same air. They eat and drink the same as everyone else. They worship, atone, and love their children too! Where is the courtesy when Christiandom is forcing their holiday upon everyone? What war on Christmas? There isn’t one. It is all narcissism with a judgement day of hell for those that do not recognize the savior in swaddling clothes lying in a manger with the livestock lying nearby because they were homeless. The lack of humanism troubles me. Salam Alaykum to my Muslim friends. May you be blessed every day of the year.

I make no apologies for my Christmas fatigue. These are my feelings. I own them. I find much of the overextension of the holiday to be a facade of goodwill wrapped in a culture of consumer capitalism. There isn’t any forgiveness or celebration in the birth of a savior when the success of the season is based upon the consumer price index or spending. It is no wonder our Islamic brothers and sisters laugh and scorn the indulgences, greed, and gluttony of “Christmas.” Do you see the hypocrisy of this way of thinking? Or is the bias too strong within one’s heart. Less is more… giving is better than receiving…

Moral of my fatigue sermon, rant, or indulgence…whatever. Just for a moment please consider everyone else on this small planet before you crush them with your bias. I want you to have a wonderful season of love and fellowship with your family and friends. I want you to have peace and goodwill. I simply want to see that peace and goodwill shared with all, not just your faith practice. If you truly believe then practice the metaphors with kindness toward everyone. Giving, caring, and peace should be shared everyday not just during the month of Advent.

Felix dies festos et tu et familia tua pacem et amorem inveniant!

عطلة سعيدة، وأتمنى أن تجد أنت وعائلتك السلام والمحبة

חג שמח ושתמצאי שלווה ואהבה אתה ומשפחתך

Happy Holidays and may you and your family find peace and love!