I was talking to the girl cutting my hair this week and, in the midst of the shopping mall madness in the week before Christmas, she bemoaned that she wished we didn't have Christmas at all. She's not alone, I'm sure. Whether it is the pressures of the season - financial, family, time - that produce a jadedness to the it all, I'm sure others think the same way.
But, if we didn't have Christmas, what would life be like? What would the world look like without Christmas?
Of course, no Christmas would mean no presents, no tree, no suburban Christmas lights to light up our streets. There would also be no carols to sing and no candlelight on community ovals to sing them by. There would be no joy and no high point in the last week of December, it would just be another week in the year.
There would also be no memories around the "modern" traditions of Christmas day; no crackers, no silly hats and no bad jokes, no turkey and ham, and (importantly) no leftovers to enjoy watching the cricket on Boxing Day.
They are the obvious losses we would suffer if Christmas was no more. And still there are some who would say that is no great loss. But is that really the extent of the impact of Christmas? I think there is more, much more. Continue Reading...