Dear Santa

UP Beauty Online

             “I don't need a holiday or a feast to feel grateful for my children, the sun, the moon, the roof over my head, music, and laughter, but I like to take this time to take the path of thanks less traveled.”

                                     ~ Paula Poundstone

Dear Santa-

The Holiday Season is for families, togetherness and harmony, and most of all for love. It goes beyond religions and political agendas, shopping sprees and guilt spending, and is more than Black Friday and the subsequent sales and promotions dreamed up by our nifty marketing gurus to skew the Holiday spirit towards the almighty dollar.

I wish for a world where we stop taking everything so personally, and when we do, react in ways that further propagate the incorrect perception that perhaps led to the original infraction in the first place (see Ferguson, Missouri). It is our inalienable right to protest a perceived wrong, but I hope for a cloud of common sense to block the ignorance leading to the sometimes violent and hateful methods employed therein. I pray for a day where we come to understand that two wrongs never equal a right.

I love the Holiday season and I know that you are not involved in the Thanksgiving thing, but can we please not start pounding the Christmas/ Hanukkah/Kwanzaa marketing, music, decorations and advertisements until Thanksgiving has had its day. Somehow a day based on humble thanks for the blessings that we have gets severely bastardized when the plotting for materialistic excess creeps in and the chatter of Black Friday permeates Thanksgiving conversations. Santa, can we fix that, pretty please?

While I tingle with Holiday delight most of the season as I have a family, however imperfect we all are, to celebrate with, I often feel somewhat hopeless for those who are homeless, alone, estranged or orphaned. It seems that the Holidays for these folks may magnify the less than ideal circumstances they find themselves surrounded by. This quote may help express my feelings:  
                   

“Christmas is a holiday that persecutes the lonely, the frayed, and the rejected.        

Jimmy Cannon

I know this is not your department, but is there a way that we can make it so that no one is left behind? Santa, I’m counting on your magic here.

And can we get the real meaning of the Holiday Season back? Gifts are great, and certainly a way of expressing love, gratitude, loyalty etc. towards those special to us. And the Holidays are about family, and families represent a love that binds. People that love each other give gifts as an expression of their feelings. While gifts are not necessary to express our heartfelt emotions, they are generally appreciated and make both the giver and recipient feel really good. I do get that and participate willingly.

It just seems to me that this push towards explosive shopping, fueled by retailers, but at the same time supported by the masses, perhaps has started to blur the lines of the meaning of gift giving. For me, materialistic excess is near the top of my list of what is wrong with our world. I certainly don’t want to put you out of business, Santa, but can we dial it down a notch? It’s a little over the top. Perhaps we could direct some of our focus towards spending quality time with our friends and relatives, enjoying food, drink and conversation with them. What a novel concept.

Can we please have peace over war, love over hate and acceptance over exclusion? May we encourage diversity with our consideration and tolerance, religious and ethnic inclusion infused with caring and compassion, and even a humble respect for opposing parties and their sometime polar opposite political ideals? Perhaps we all need to occasionally agree to disagree. It’s OK. If we remain needing to always be RIGHT, we can never nurture meaningful relationships, because they are in fact mutually exclusive. Santa, these are some of the Holiday gifts I would truly appreciate.

Look Better, Feel Better, Live Better

Of course, Santa, as referenced here is simply an ideal, and those who celebrate the Holidays in other cultural ways, please understand that this is simply speaking, and quite tongue in cheek, to the majority. Insert any name you want that makes it work for you; or practice the same religious and cultural tolerances we’re asking for as our Holiday gift this year. We’re all the same in as many ways as we are different!

“Our many different cultures notwithstanding, there's something about the Holidays that makes the planet communal. Even nations that do not celebrate Christmas can't help but be caught up in the collective spirit of their neighbors, as twinkling lights dot the landscape and carols fill the air. It's an inspiring time of the year.”

                                                                                   ~ Marlo Thomas

 

PS: Breathe in the inspiration, exhale peace and joy....J Happy Holidays!