Struggling to catch Christmas

As I search for the answers to deep philosophical Holiday questions, I ponder the reasons why things are the way they are? 

How can we be nicer and more kind from Nov 20- January 2 to total strangers but not to a loved one that hurt us or did us wrong?

Why can’t our politicians get along, not even during the holidays?

Why do we spend so much effort on presents when what most of us wants is to know we are loved and appreciated?

Why do companies wait until December to lay people off when they knew in October it needed to happen and now no one is hiring until after the new year?

Why do people lie and cheat the most loving, caring, giving, people more at Christmas time?

Are we not able to take our Holiday spirit year with us all year and would the world be better if we could?

I ponder this as I listen to commercial holiday songs playing on the radio, in the cold evening air, as I sit and watch the hurried shoppers looking for parking, and breathe in all this holiday spirit  as I leave the mall and that hustle and bustle.  I see the serious concern and worry on the parent that just overspent and maybe rent will not get paid on time in January or maybe a utility bill will go delinquent.

I catch the smell of a real Christmas tree and a nice man helping an elderly person around a patch of ice and I think this is still the best time of the year. I will try to make a difference regardless of the bad in the world because even if for just 30 days of the year Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years is a time of reflection, grace, peace and love for all of us.

Has it been difficult for you to get into the proverbial “Christmas spirit”? If you've just gotten into somewhat of a rut these past years, keeping almost the same traditions year after year, but something just hasn’t felt quite right, then read on. This year, here's how to feel enveloped in that surreal Christmas blanket.

These beautiful quotes below are from some amazing, insightful people who have shared their own inspiring expressions of this festive season. They can help to put everything back into perspective for you.

·        “Best of all, Christmas means a spirit of love. A time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness; a time when our thoughts and deeds, and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God.” —George F. McDougall

·       “This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone.” —Taylor Caldwell

·       “As long as we know in our hearts what Christmas ought to be, Christmas is.” —Eric Sevareid

·       “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” —Burton Hillis

·        “Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.” —Ruth Carter Stapleton

·       “Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” —Hamilton Wright Mabie

·       “It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” —W. T. Ellis

·       “Christmas is the day that holds all time together.” —Alexander Smith

·       “This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols. But the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift—the Christ.” —Frank McKibben

·       “Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given, when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.” —Joan Winmill Brown

·       “Time was with most of us, when Christmas Day, encircling all our limited world like a magic ring, left nothing out for us to miss or seek; bound together all our home enjoyments, affections, and hopes; grouped everything and everyone round the Christmas fire, and make the little picture shining in our bright young eyes, complete.” —Charles Dickens

·       “Christmas . . . that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance—a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved.” —Augusta E. Rundel

·       “And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?” —Dr. Seuss

·       “Take a lesson from God in gift giving: His gift didn’t show us how powerful He was, how rich He was, or what good taste He had. His gift simply showed us that He loved us more than anything else in the world, and that He was willing to do whatever it took to make our lives wonderful.” —Maria Fontaine

·       “Christmas is not an eternal event at all, but a piece of one's home that one carries in one's heart.” —Freya Stark

·       “At Christmas, all roads lead home.” —Marjorie Holmes

·       “Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.” —Laura Ingalls Wilder

·        “I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.” —Harlan Miller

·       “A Christmas candle is a lovely thing; it makes no noise at all, but softly gives itself away; while quite unselfish, it grows small.” —Eva K. Logue

·       “Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends.” —Margaret Thatcher

·        “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well when you get right down to it Christmas is still a magical, special, best time of the year and I personally think if we could capture the holiday spirit and spread it through the entire year ahhh yes, this would be a much better world to live in .