The traditions we associate with Christmas, Hanukkah or what ever we have over the ages called the celebrations just after the winter solstice are all borrowed from various cultures and traditions of the cultures from which they were merged. Some were even pop culture and commercial stories like that of Santa Claus which really got his appearance from the Coca Cola company.

The issue we need to deal with is not so much where these many and varied traditions come from but what does the total sum of these folkways have on our lives and our relationships with each other?

I must confess that I for most of my life have held the belief that the way Christmas is treated in our society of today really and truly hijacks the religions nature of its name. I now realise that the culture of a society is a dynamic thing and in actual fact it was not other cultures ripping off Christianity but definitely the other way around. In order to win converts and meld with the cultures in which Christianity inserted itself it adopted the traditions and practices that were ages old.

What we need to realise is that there are no Christmas police and not even appropriate or inappropriate practices associated with this time of the year. What happens is indeed an expression of the people who find something at this time of the year that is good in their lives and there is a solid interest in sharing with each other and above all being happy.

I truly regret that many of us impose to much on ourselves to live up to some abstract concept of what is Christmas really about. Let that pressure off, make the wonders of the season a good and happy time and accept both your own limitations and the dramatically different views of others as to what this season is all about. Ultimately deep down inside each of us the true Christmas is your own personal experience, the one you make with your family and friends and what you have it mean to you and you alone.