Its the day after Christmas, and all through the House....

Holidays can have long histories.


Today I've been thinking about Christmas. The legend began many thousands of years ago, with the birth of Christ. Or so we've been told. Delve further and you'll find the Christians decided to move Christ's birthday to the 25th of December to coincide with a pagan holiday. 


This is quite interesting. Because today, in some countries, Christmas is all about shopping. The slow transformation of the holiday has moved towards commercialism, whereby the wreaths of holly go up, along with the Holiday tree. Don't forget that the presents and gift giving is the most important part, never mind the message behind it. Instead, movies portray Christmas as a time to be with family and friends, a time to share gifts, unwrap wrapping paper, and remind each other about how lucky we are. Sometimes, its even about providing miracles, even small ones.


It made me think: what could Christmas be like in fifty, or a hundred years? Would its original meaning be lost? What kind of world would it be like, where the holidays are commercialized and the original meanings are lost? Like Easter, the day that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Or All Hallows Eve, now turned into a night where kids go door to door, dressed as scary monsters and begging for candy. At no other time would this be politically correct.


And then there's this: http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/4452192/Rude-Santa-fired-then-hired


Years ago I remember sitting on Santa's knee and maybe being told the same thing about him: he knows whether the children are naughty or nice, and where they live.


A bit of overkill perhaps? Are we becoming too politically correct to celebrate the holidays as they should be celebrated?


 I don't pretend to know all the answers. I'm just putting my views across. I know that there are many more examples out there, but for the sake of this post I'm only sticking to a small few.


Let's think about it for a while, and consider what you want the holidays to be in a few years time.


Maybe it'd make a good basis for a novel, don't you think?