The Spirit of Christmas Writ Large

With Christmas only five days away, my thoughts have turned to this festive season, so replete with memories, sentiment, and anticipation. We are a Baha'i family, and Christmas is not a holiday for Baha'is. Many, if not most, do not mark it. In our household, however, we have celebrated Christmas, although ours is now a more toned-down version than was customary for us when none of us were Baha'is.

We mark it because, early on, we established family customs which are precious to all of us, and which we anticipate re-enacting each year. The trimming of the tree, with our own special and significant ornaments collected or received as gifts over the years, is one such tradition. Because we live in Quebec, we indulge in tourtière on Christmas Eve, sharing a tradition with many thousands of others in our province on that same evening. And for us, Christmas would not be Christmas without a sumptuous turkey dinner. If we are not hosting Christmas dinner, we are generally sharing dinner at the home of friends, as will be the case this year.

Ever since our children were tiny, we've marked Christmas in our own home. The only exception to this was the Christmas we spent in New Brunswick two years' ago. Dad had passed away the previous summer and I felt a very strong pull to spend Christmas with Mom. I'm so glad that we did. We had a very sweet, poignant Christmas, bought and decorated a tree for her (she hadn't had a tree in years), showered her with our love and our gifts and, as she put it, we gave her Christmas that year. It was special. None of us will ever forget it. The following year she was receiving round-the-clock nursing care at my sister's home, as her vitality continued to slip away. That Christmas turned out to be her last.

I am surprisingly in the mood for Christmas this year, especially considering that it is the first one since my mother's passing (and my mother is so present in my mind when I remember past Christmases growing up). I guess it all depends on how one looks at this season. For me, this is a season for offering and receiving love. It's the time of year when I especially want to remember everyone near and dear to me, through the greeting cards we send and receive, or through the good wishes I want to extend to friend and stranger alike. And this seems to be the time when I most consider what it would be like if we could overcome our differences and really unite as a human race.

Indeed, it seems to me that at this time of year the longing for this harmony and peace is perhaps most great, and our awareness of the want and suffering of so many people is also much more acute. It's a season when much of humanity (at least in countries where Christmas is significant) takes stock. How are we doing? Are we making any progress towards "peace and goodwill towards men"?

For these reasons, as a family and amongst friends and sometimes extended family, we celebrate what we have - love and goodwill towards each other - every year at the end of December. Christmas is one day in that period, a special day to be sure, but as I grow older, less special than the overall festive season and all that that season represents to us.

Music is an important element for me. I pull out our CD of Handel's Messiah and treat myself to repeated listens, whenever I have quiet opportunities to bask in its splendour. It is one of my most favoured musical creations. I love to hear the old hymns I grew up with and remember singing at the midnight service in the small Anglican Church - "Church of the Good Shepherd" - in my little hometown in New Brunswick. As we approached this church each December 24th, the colourful, lit-from-within stained-glass windows were a magical beacon drawing us inward, both physically and spiritually. Listening to those hymns again - even the much-played Silent Night - brings me back to the soft, candle-lit interior of that church, with its small, humble evergreen tree, and to the exterior, with the soft-falling snow, as we emerged from the service bundled in our winter attire, carrying in our hearts the seeds of hope for all of humanity.

It is the message of Christmas that makes the season for me. The gifts, the music, the festive foods and sweets, would mean nothing to me were it not for the expression of hope for peace and harmony that underlies it all. Deep down, I think we all long for this oneness. At this season, many of us openly express this desire. This is the true spirit of Christmas, and my wish for all of us this coming year and for many, many years to come is that we learn how to work collectively to make that spirit present not only toward the latter part of December but all year long and throughout all of our lives.

Blessings of the season to all!