Wishing You All A Very Merry Little Christmas

Now that it’s December and Black Friday is behind us, we can all say Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah without any reproachful glares. This is the time of the year when we feel that wonderful joyous spirit that washes over us and we wish goodwill to all. The time of year when we set our petty differences aside and treat one another with good cheer. We sing carols, and even if we sing out of key no one minds. We put a few extra dollars in the red bucket on our way out for the Salvation Army. We exchange gifts and hope we got the right present for that person. We hold enormous feasts with our families and friends to celebrate the Birthday of Jesus.

The bottom line is, we treat others—even strangers—better than we would throughout the rest of the year. And why is that? Why is there so much joy in December that we can’t hold onto over the next 11 months?  The greatest gift we could give ourselves would be to bottle up this month and splash some of it on throughout the year when the going gets tough and we become forgetful of how we felt throughout the holiday season. 

Perhaps as the New Year begins, we forget December and settle into January and the routine grind of our daily lives, cycling through each month and the events that takes place, like in February, when we all think about romance because of Valentine’s Day. We know March is set aside for green beer on St. Patrick’s Day as we all become Irish for a day. Easter in April, Mother’s Day in May, Father’s Day in June and so on until we reach December once again.

The difference between December and the other 11 months lies in a single, special day. It’s that one day that changes the whole month and infects us with good cheer that grows day to day, starting with the 1st of the month until we reach Christmas Day.

Just a week after Christmas comes New Year’s Day and all those annual resolutions. We promise ourselves that some things will change or that we are going to do something we haven’t yet done, from improving our diet to quitting smoking. But somehow, most of us let those resolutions slip away before May, if they even last that long.

However, some of us do hold true to them. In our January issue of this year, I made mine. It was to introduce people to our local Performing Arts and to help those who have been in the past remember the joy of those performances. Throughout this year, I have taken or given tickets to over 60 people. I got to see firsthand the amazement on their faces as magic unfolded before them. There have been laughs and tears as those stories on stage were told. I expect next year to be no different, but I will have to find a new resolution for myself since this year’s was fulfilled. Maybe this is the year I should roll out that "quit smoking" resolution—after all, 2015’s resolution went really well!

From all of us here at FINE Magazine, be joyful this month my friends, and let yourselves have a Merry Little Christmas or A Happy Hanukkah. Until next year!