Real meaning of Christmas...

                                    
                           Real meaning of Christmas...


    I was just in a human maze of unbelievable proportions! It consisted of cars and people and merchandise, and an indoor shopping mall, and there were times when I wondered if I would get out in one piece physically and mentally. I have no one to blame but myself, as I decided to shop on a day equal to or worse than black Friday...which I avoid like the plague. There were moments of frustration, exhaustion, and jubilation, all within seconds or minutes of each other, but after two hours I had to call it quits for the day. I think I may still have a few brain cells left, and perhaps an ounce of patience. How do the store clerks pull it off day after day? Bless them!

  So, here I am in my cozy home at my computer, asking myself what did I just experience, and out of all that traffic, honking, glitter, tinsel and fakery, where is an inkling of the real meaning behind the season? I have been to most of the stores these past few weeks, picking away at my shopping list, and trying to remain calm and bright. It hasn't been easy when it takes forever to find a parking space, or what you are looking for is in every size but the one you need. One clue that people are frazzled and anxious these last days before Christmas is that very few shoppers are aware of the others around them in the store, or in the parking lot. 

  In all of this, I have caught glimpses here and there of a light in all of this mess out there, and it was in the form of one person helping another. Today at the mall, among a crowd of hundreds of bustling shoppers, a man slowly pushing the wheelchair of another person, so that person could shop was a highlight for me. 
That gave me a clue to the remedy for all the merchandise madness, which is to slow down. Is all this rushing around really necessary? Is going to five more stores really going to bring the real meaning of Christmas any closer to any of us, or will it just push it farther away?

  A simple act of caring, whether it be a word, smile, letter, card or visit, will do much more to bring to life what Christmas is all about.

  Wishing each one of you reading this a very special and meaningful Christmas.

~Kathy~