These few days leading to Christmas are always a heady, crazy time.
Traffic is worse, public transportation is more difficult than it is, and people crowd to shopping centers for last-minute shopping, driven by numerous parties and reunions on the calendar and the release of holiday bonuses.
It’s these experiences that make us have ambivalent feelings about the religious holiday. On the one hand, the faithful believe it is a time to renew their faith. Others are simply happy for the opportunity to reconnect with friends and family.
On the other hand, it also reminds us of the excesses that we could be capable of.
More importantly, it highlights that the government has consistently failed to make people’s day-to-day lives easier.
The net effect is that instead of the pure warm and fuzzy feeling that Christmas should occasion, it also makes us wish that we could get the holiday season over and done with, and get back to our routines.
How then can we insulate ourselves from the irritants that come with the holiday rush and focus instead on the good things that the season is supposed to bring?
Individuals and families have their own manner of getting through the season, but soaring costs of goods and the intolerable mobility issues must be, indeed, factored into their plans.
The holidays would lose their solemnity if people simply go through the motions of being physically present, picture-worthy, or outwardly prosperous.
The rush should not drown out the essence of the occasion. Christmas will still be Christmas without the fanfare.