One in particular seems to relate with how I've felt about Christmas the last few years. It's "Where Are You Christmas?"
Alas, I couldn't find a YouTube video that I could embed, so I'll just have to settle with a link to the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdoMRT5smHc
Lyrics:
Where are you Christmas
Why can't I find you
Why have you gone away
Where is the laughter
You used to bring me
Why can't I hear music play
My world is changing
I'm rearranging
Does that mean Christmas changes too
Where are you Christmas
Do you remember
The one you used to know
I'm not the same one
See what the time's done
Is that why you have let me go
Christmas is here
Everywhere, oh
Christmas is here
If you care, oh
If there is love in your heart and your mind
You will feel like Christmas all the time
I feel you Christmas
I know I've found you
You never fade away
The joy of Christmas
Stays here inside us
Fills each and every heart with love
Where are you Christmas
Fill your heart with love
[Taken from: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/whereareyouchristmas.html]
I honestly don't know when it began. At least when I was still going to college, Christmas was something that excited me. I still could touch with that little kid feeling of excitement and wonder. I've felt this Christmas season, as well as the last, that I don't get that sense of wonder or awe that I used to feel. I used to feel so enchanted and enamored with it. I feel like I've lost the Christmas spirit over the years. The dreams have slowly slipped away.
The cause? I believe I've become to focus on the 'how' of Christmas, the little logistical details to help the day go 'smoothly'. I have some family members that seem to focus on trying to make the day as 'perfect' as possible. As such, it turns into a stress-fest. The day becomes just another day focused on to-dos. As such, I'd rather spend time away from family to avoid that stress.
What is the true Christmas spirit? I believe it is the spirit of Christ. It's the spirit of love, of giving, of family, of warmth, of light, of acceptance. I will always be in awe of Him, the only one of us to grace this planet, and live a perfect life.
This song helps touch on both sides of how I see Christmas. On one hand, there's the 'Where did the spirit of the season go?' On the other hand, I can see and feel the spirit of Christ. I think children naturally can tap into that spirit. As I've gotten older, and gotten further from the innocence of youth, I think I've let that true spirit of love slip away.
That's probably why I've always wondered where Christmas went.
I think this year, I've started to get it back. But like anything in life, it is a process. I'm still learning to love and to give freely. And that is what this time of year is all about. No, that is what all year long should be about. The spirit of love and of giving is a spirit I should seek out all throughout the year. Christmas is just a convenient time to be reminded of the path I need to follow in my life, the same path that Christ took when he was here on the earth.
The sense of the magic of the season, the wonder, the awe, and the excitement may not be something that will come back. However, I do believe that I can receive the spirit of the season, the spirit of Christ. That is something that will not fade away. That is only something that will grow stronger over the years.
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