A correct Christmas

Well, it’s only a month away from Christmas and once again the shops are full to bursting with toys and treats for young and old.

In some countries, Christmas trees and bright decorations are springing up like massive commercial fishing nets ready to empty the wallets of billions of people heading for their annual splurge into the world of excess and diminished responsibility.

Oh well, I suppose at least those countries are still celebrating Christmas without having to bow to the vagaries of political correctness by insisting that their citizens go about saying “happy holidays” instead of Happy Christmas just so that non-Christians don’t get offended.

Political correctness has, of course, reached heady heights and I would not be in the least bit surprised if the following message, sent to me by e-mail, will take the place of the good old-fashioned Christmas card.

“Good day. I wanted to send you a holiday greeting, but it is so difficult in today’s world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So, I met with my lawyer yesterday, and on his advice I wish to say the following:

‘Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practised with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practise religious or secular traditions at all.

‘I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that South Africa is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

‘By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:

‘This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform a

‘s expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

‘Disclaimer: no trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.’”

While I am sorely tempted to embark on a tirade against political correctness and nanny states, I have decided that in the spirit of yuletide I should look rather at some positively pertinent points others have made about Christmas.

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”–Roy L Smith

“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind.”–Mary Ellen Chase

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.”–Charles Dickens

“There has been only one Christmas—the rest are anniversaries.”–WJ Cameron

“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”–Laura Ingalls Wilder

“Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!”–Hamilton Wright Mabie

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.”–Author unknown.

“Christmas is forever, not for just one day, / for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away / like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. / The good you do for others is good you do yourself…”–Norman Wesley Brooks, (Let Every Day Be Christmas, 1976)

On reflection, I suppose that the real spirit of Christmas is in concentrating on how we spend it and not on how others don’t.