The Aspects of Christmas.

As the freight train that is Christmas barrels down upon us, I realise how conflicted Christmas time is.  The Spirit of Christmas.  The religious aspect.  Of stars leading wise men and a virgin birth.  The childhood memories of the magical aspect.  No child ever really wondered how Father Christmas flew around the world in a night and got down the tiny chimney with a large doll house, he just did.  The materialistic aspect.  Of excess food, un(read necessary) alcohol consumption, extravagant spending on high-end presents, more baubles and trinkets to decorate the tree, last minute, very expensive Christmas crackers filled with kitsch and weepworthy jokes, another 100 songs of Christmas CD, fake snow, fake tans, those blasted fairy lights that never work even after you have found the offending bulb. Wrapping paper!  Piles and piles of gleefully ripped, beautifully designed paper.  (I say gleefully because I had a mother who instructed me to unwrap ever so carefully so she could iron it for use next year. Needless to say we had a drawer full of flattened, never-to-be used Christmas wrapping and as a consequence, I have become a gleeful serial ripper.)  The family aspect.  Christmas is supposed to be "the most wonderful time of the year."  Deeply missed loved ones come home for Christmas, but long (wish they were lost) standing (only just) relatives do too. "He/she/they will only be here for Christmas, you can be nice for one day, can't you?" Response to which is usually an exaggerated eye roll.  A token gift for miserable Aunt Sophie, who mutters, in a voice not unlike Eeyore,  "Oh, I have always wanted one of these."  You know she hasn't and will probably re-gift it to you.  Creepy Uncle Ted who smells, gets drunk and makes inappropriate advances.  Children on sugar highs.  The on-going, never-to-be-repaired family feud which makes two separate occasions a sad necessity and the yearly re-enactment of "The martyrdom of the matriarch in the kitchen" scene worthy of an Oscar. The forgotten aspect.  Of doing Christmas from the heart, being thankful for your blessings, of sharing with those less fortunate. Remembering those who are remembering their lost loved ones, the people in war-ravaged places, the poor, the homeless, the desperate, the infirm, the newly bereaved, the lonely, the families and friends separated by distance. This is the true Spirit of Christmas.