Today, another sib and family are flying off to warmer climes. Last Sunday, my brother and his family also rushed out to spend Christmas in Florida. Some good friends are doing the same. "Merry Christmas," they tell me, with a small grin on their faces. I would be a hypocrite to say I'm not jealous.
I'm stuck here because I gotta look after the shop. So are my younger sibs. We're sort of like the 24/7 people whom I mentioned in Day 7. My sister, the doctor, has to be on emergency service on Christmas. We can't all be together on the Eve dinner.
This situation reminds me of the 2001 book of John Grisham, entitled Skipping Christmas. It was turned into a movie Christmas with the Kranks a few years later. In the story, Luther and Nora Krank decide to forego all Christmas festivities and expenditures in favor of a cruise in the Bahamas.
What I like about the story is how commercial and pretentious Christmas had become in modern times. The story portrays shops that presume that the Kranks will reorder things from greeting cards to Christmas trees, and then are shocked to hear that they would not order this year. Friends are already planning to be at their house for Christmas Eve, and are dismayed that no festivities are planned. Even neighbors are in arms because Luther won't put up tacky and audacious lights on the house.
The peer pressure to look and act Christmassy is something I dislike.
Christmas at my parent's home varied from year to year. Most years, we decked the halls, and lighted up a tree. On one particular year when business was bad, there were no decorations - no tree. The tree came to symbolize a relatively good year. More donations to charity also coincided with the tree. But the one thing we never miss year after year is the church service.
At the end of the story, the Kranks learn something valuable about family and tradition. But it falls short because the pretentiousness is not lost - it is just delayed until the next Christmas season.
I've thought about skipping Christmas in the past few years. The season can get expensive with all the expectations on us. And I can't help but question how the ostentation relates to the birth of Christ.
My wish this year is for my own customized Christmas - a celebration that my family and I feel comfortable with - a celebration that I am not pressured to produce. And for my Christmas, I would love to have my sibs join us for dinner, church and gathering around the tree.
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