Yeah same picture as yesterday, it’s festive!

Another rant, it’s Christmas so Bah Humbug!

So Christmas is not what it was when I was a kid.

Christmas is now all about money and buying more and more stuff, that’s it really.

Growing up I’ve watched it morph and change into something barely recognizable. It’s the point where it’s just another day for me, it’s not special anymore.

It’s all about money and buying things for people, buying the latest and greatest. It’s not ‘the thought that counts’ anymore, it’s the price that counts, it’s how much you spend and how many things you buy or get.

I’ll admit I’ve fallen into that trap as well, I do feel guilty I can’t afford to buy everything my kids want. yes it’s a whole lot of stuff, but part of me feels guilty I can’t buy everything they want. I shouldn’t feel that way, but society and big business has made me feel like this.

Christmas was about faith and family.

No I’m not religious and this isn’t pro-religion, but I was brought up Catholic and went to Catholic school. My Grandma Mary died when I was 12 and after that I stopped going to church really. We used to go every Saturday night for the evening mass, we would make a thing out of it. Usually go to mass and then get a steak sandwich or whatever other food, and it was fun. My Grandma was hardcore Italian, came over on the boat when she was little, spoke English and Italian fluently and damn I miss her, I miss her a lot. She pretty much raised me until she died, and then I was basically on my own, but that’s another story for another time that I’ll probably never share..

My Grandma was a hardcore Catholic as well, she believed. I stopped believing when she was taken from me I think.

Christmas back then was about family, and friends as well, but was being with family and celebrating life and the birth of Christ. It was a special time really. Going to mass, having dinner with the family, seeing everyone you haven’t seen in a while and even seeing those people you see everyday, it was different, it was festive, it was special.

Maybe my memories are skewed by the view of a child, and sure it wasn’t always fun and all that. Yes there were those family members who drank too much and caused problems, but it’s part of it really. It was kind of expected, you just knew so and so was going to get drunk and do something stupid. it wasn’t mean though, it was just goofy really.

After my grandma died I still had my mom and other grandmother and other family members, but that was the other side of the family and it was really different. It just wasn’t the same, it was a whole lot more alcohol for one thing and it just wasn’t as enjoyable.

My mom really didn’t get along with that side of the family so once my Grandma Mary died I really lost contact with them and I look back and I really regret that. Sure I could have made more of an effort but I was a kid, I was young, what the hell did I know back then?  I was confused, a major part of my life was torn from me and I was pretty much thrown into a new life.

Religion has become sort of taboo all of the sudden, and that’s wrong in part.

I don’t with all of it, but the basics I do agree with and I think we should follow.

Do unto to others as you would have them do to you.

There’s nothing wrong with that, if we all lived that way the world would be a great place.

When did we forget what Christmas actually means?

When did it become about lining the pockets of companies and not about family?

I don’t care if you’re religious or not, the values taught by the Catholic or other religions can make the world a better place if we followed them.

I look around and I don’t have much in the way of family anymore, wife and kids and that’s really it. I’ve got nobody else.

I do have three sisters, but I can’t remember the last time I even saw them. They’re to my father’s new wife and we’re not close at all.

I do have a brother as well, different father but same mother, but he’s 13 years younger than me so we’re not close either. It also doesn’t help that he’s in another state, but I say good for him, get the hell out of here, there’s nothing here.

This Christmas look at what you really have and not all the stuff you got in the way of material things. Those things really don’t matter at all. They’ll be obsolete soon anyway, or broken, or lost or stolen, but your family will always be there.

It doesn’t matter how much stuff you got, that’s all replaceable, you can buy it again.

Christmas isn’t about stuff, it’s about family and being together.

 

 

 

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