Santa Claus

Well, once again Christmas is just around the corner, let’s see, this will be number Sixty-one for me. Funny, but Santa Claus doesn’t bring me anything anymore, and hasn’t in a long time.

Did you ever believe in Santa Claus?   What a lie, huh? And to tell little kids, and lead them to believe such things.… Ever wonder why we do that? I bet most people couldn’t tell ya today.

My daddy lied to me all the time, it was terrible… And every now and then, mama would tell a whopper! I use to wonder, why in the hell would they lie to me? I mean? I’m their kid!

Now don’t get me wrong. They loved me. There was never any doubt of it. I knew that. It showed. They took good care of me, put clothes on me, educated me, and for a big part, did so themselves. So, why would they lie to me so damn much?

It took me awhile, but I finally figured it out…  Santa Claus.

Santa Claus is the first Big Lie… And you as the child, using information you gather, are left to figure otherwise. They are simply teaching you to 'think for yourself.'  And the myth of Santa Claus is a good foundation for critical thinking.

Another important lesson, is teaching the ability to challenge authority (the parents) when the child draws a conclusion.

Notice there is no reward when the child figures it out, but nor is there a punishment. Thinking for yourself… is its own reward. ©

George Henry Nichols 

Flip a Switch Christmas...

“What are the single most important words in the Bible?” What’s your answer??? Ever thought about it??? There’s an interesting man… Dennis Prager, who gave a most intriguing answer, and then backed it up with a good argument,  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BqWdu1BnBQ

Genesis I-I “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth,” To Quote Dennis Prager, “If this isn’t true, then nothing else matters. This is the very foundation of what we believe.” (?)

Therefore the single most important date in all of history… Is when this God, who created the heavens and the earth, became a Man and dwelt among us... Duhhhh….  

Now I admit, it’s not the most important feast in the Church… That would be Easter… But Christmas is the most important date in history….

And we as modern Americans, how do we celebrate it???  “With a Flip a Switch Christmas” ©

We pull the non-flammable fake tree out of the attic, spray it with Christmas smell, stick it in its spot, hang its decorations on it and plug that sucker in… Along with the tree, we drag the rest of the Christmas shit out of the attic and hang the wreath on the door, plug it in, hang the lights on the house, plug them in… Put the Christmas tablecloth, center piece and assorted Christmas crap on the table. Then stand back, flip a switch and wa-la it Christmas… Fa-la-la and the whole works…

We watch an Andy Williams Christmas, We watch a Charlie Brown Christmas… A Grinch Stole Christmas….on and on and poor ole Morley was dead as a doornail….

We buy a shit load of a crap, give it to each other…. Go to each others parties… piss and moan about our lives and speak of Christmas Cheer… And feel all warm and fussy and Christmassy Ahhhhh…..

We sit around in our easy chairs, with a beer in one hand, turkey leg in the other, a 60’ Flat Screen deluxe HD 4-on-the-floor type Boob Tube… (ya know there’s a reason they call it that).  And bitch about paying too damn many taxes, supporting too many freeloaders, Them sons-of-bitches better not try and take my guns, ya know they shouldn’t be aborting all them babies. Damn money ain’t any good anymore, I just need to win the lottery, are all these people stupid??? Damn schools don’t teach anything anymore…. And the Media is so full of shit…

And I bet you think you’re one of the good guys too, I vote republican, I tote a gun, and I’m for the constitution. Oh…

All the hoop-la that goes on this time of year, all the going into debt to buy a mountain of crap that nobody wants, and the parties and the patting each other on the back and telling ourselves how great we are… Wishing each other happy holiday or Merry Christmas, depending on who they are? And what they believe?

And so we celebrate the single most importance date in history by flipping a few switches and saying… “it’s Christmas”…ta-daaaa ” Happy I know its somebody’s birthday.  (?) Let me at the cake…”

Whatever this glaring display of lights and wan-ton blaring of music.… is????

What ever all this is???

It ain’t Christmas… ©

George Henry Nichols 

What is Christmas

Christmas… What is Christmas? I’ve heard a lot of things… It’s about giving….It’s about family…It’s about receiving…. It’s about forgiving… It’s about Santa Claus…. And a Sleigh full of toys, for the children the world over….

Sounds pretty good… Oh yea… it’s somebody’s birthday…. Our Lord Jesus Christ…

Who was this man, who’s birth we celebrate every year… Year after year for centuries???

A singular man who impacted history, like no other man ever…. To the point, we celebrate the winter solace, as the beginning mark for the bleak winter ahead…. Around this man’s birthday…. 

Who was this man? Well I stand with Saint Peter and say, he is the Son of the Living God….The God, who made the heavens and the earth….

So Christmas is the time we mark, as the time “The Christ” was born…. The, without dispute, most important date in man’s history.

And so we should indeed, celebrate Christmas, but we should do so in humility…. Considering the gift Christ is to the world, redemption...

We have gotten carried away with ourselves, and our own ideas, clinging to forgotten traditions, and distorting them beyond recognition, to somehow fit our own idea of what Christmas is suppose to be…

Whoooaa…. Wait just a minute there…

It wasn’t your idea…. It was the idea of the Almighty God…. It was God’s idea to come and walk among us… and God’s alone…. 

Bring this idea into your hearts and homes and the ideas of giving, of family, of receiving, of forgiving… will begin to take hold, and you will find comfort.

The Idea of Santa Claus comes from several traditions; (most of which served the same purpose), the one I grew up with was Saint Nicholas.... The idea is to introduce and create a desire in the child to search for and seek out the truth… Santa Claus is very much like Christ… He is always there; he knows all about you, he comes in the bleak of winter spreading joy and good cheer, all in reference to the birth of the Christ…

Through critical thinking on the part of the child, we realize that Mom and Dad are Santa Claus… and this tradition of searching for the truth, of critical thinking continues… serving a man his entire life. And any search for truth will lead to Christ.

So this Christmas, take a lesson from Charlie Brown, read the gospels for yourselves (Luke & Matthew), and return to the true meaning of Christmas this year… And the gift Christmas (Christ) truly is…..

And…ahhhh….. don’t buy so damn much junk! ;)

Indeed a Time to rejoice

Merry Christmas

George Henry Nichols