When writers re-imagine a TV series, they generally take something that’s become familiar and stale, and return to its darker, but more meaningful roots. They pick out the fundamentals that matter to people, but they cut through the superficial nostalgia. And they create something which is familiar, but also exciting and new.
Christmas is to holiday festivals what the Batman or Star Trek series of the 60s are to their respective genres.
They have characters garbed in anachronistic dress. They take place in unconvincing locations. They’re full of “Pow!”, “Biff!”, “Oof!” and “Sock!” but with no real substance.
And Christmas is the same. Especially in 2015.
An international law this year has decreed that every works party had to feature people in Christmas jumpers depicting Rudolph or Santa or that flashed or glowed in the dark. About 65% of all Christmas cards this year featured Victorian people (on a coach, singing carols, roasting chestnuts on an open fire). And the Coca-Cola truck, Christmas-themed TV adverts, and “elves on the shelf” were the majority of people’s top three most important Christmas traditions.
When David “Starman” Bowie joined “Bing “the Croon” Crosby for The Little Drummer Boy on Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas on September 11, 1977, the writing was firmly on the wall.
The writing is now on Christmas “Round Robin” letters. Only it’s not even writing. It’s typing.
So what can we do? Well, we can’t rely on JJ Abrams to reboot it for us, so we’ll have to do it ourselves.
Christmas is based on the old pagan Germanic festival of Yule. The idea for the ignorant Northern Europeans was that the world was dying, so they carried out certain rituals to make sure it didn’t. Like bringing branches from evergreen trees into the house. And human sacrifice.
The Christmas tree idea has probably run out of steam. And the human sacrifice one is unlikely to make a comeback, even this year. But the concept is clear. The end of the year = the end of the world. We should be afraid. Very afraid. But we need to confront our fear, and we do that by trusting that the world will not end at the end of the year.
The Christian version is similar. “Do not be afraid” are the words that keep being repeated in the Bible story. (Although they don’t always make it into school nativity plays.) And then the Christian version takes it a step further: “peace be with you.”
I can live with that: “a big ‘no’ to fearfulness and a big ‘yes’ to peace.
That’s a starting point and after that, feel free to pray or hope for something better. Work towards that thing, whatever it is, for others first; for yourself second.
On the day itself, switch off all electronics. Visit someone. Share (a small amount) of the food and drink that you love the most with someone you don’t. Your loved ones are likely to be there already, so try to make it someone you normally shun.
Get some oxygen into your lungs.
It might be good to have a period of asceticism either immediately before or immediately after. You’ll feel better for it.
Traditions are good, so go and create a few of your own. A few things to bear in mind when you get creative:
The other 364 days – especially Hallowe’en – are for kids.
Unless you really fear them. And you might, of course. Then the other rules apply.
If you exchange presents, that’s just barter. If anyone asks: “What do you want for Christmas?” you have to say “Peace”. You can improvise a bit: “World peace,” “Peace in our time,” “Peace, man.” All of these are acceptable.
If you ask anyone what they want for Christmas yourself, then you’ve failed. You’ve broken Christmas. (But you can try again next year.)
If you want to give a gift to someone, it should be well thought out and heartfelt. Something they will absolutely not expect, but which will absolutely take them by storm. If not, the best thing to give them is a peaceful day.
Or red. It’s any colour you want it to be.
Come on! Resist! We’re talking about not giving into fear and being at peace here!
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Photo credit: Getty Images
I’m kinda skeptical that anything approaching a majority finds Christmas so stale and dated that it needs to be reimagined. Admittedly, there is something of a persistent social angst rooted in the fear that we’ve “lost track of the meaning of Christmas”… but how many times have you found yourself passing by a street, square, or plaza festooned with lights, pines, and Santa icons and thought, “wow… everybody here looks absolutely, desperately miserable” ? We put up stockings for our dogs every year, along with a few bones gift-wrapped under the tree. On paper, it’s an absurd practice; even if… Read more »
Thanks for the comment. I’m interested that the article comes across as if Christmas means nothing to me. In fact, it’s from sitting at Mass on Christmas Day for the last three or four years thinking that there must be more to it than there seems to be that started me on the track to writing this. Year after year, I realised that two lines from the Christmas story are hugely overlooked in the celebration of Christmas in the wider world: “Do not be afraid” and “Peace by with you.” I started from there, and tried to write something that… Read more »
Merry Christmas to you. We went to the 4:00 mass today. Packed to the rafters… I’d chAllenge you to write about Christmas from a Christian perspective. There is no meaning beyond a scratch the surface goodwill from a secular perspective. I don’t discuss Diwali or Ramadan from a secular perspective. To do so would seem disrespectful. Christmas doesn’t need a reboot- it’s the celebration of the birth of the Savior of Mankind. If that’s not enough to inspire you I don’t know what is. If you’re not Christian then be a good neighbor and wish your Christian neighbors well. Just… Read more »
I’ve really come to feel the opposite about it, even though most of my family still observes the religious aspect of Christmas. There’s something kinda magical about the fact that I can have practicing Jewish friends who choose to celebrate it because they want to share and experience the spirit of the holiday, along with Japanese friends in Tokyo who only have a rudimentary understanding of its origins, but love it nonetheless because the exchanging of gifts and public festivities fit into their culture like a glove. That people of wildly different beliefs find Christmas so compelling that they want… Read more »
The irony of progressive articles discussing a secular Christmas is such fun. How can you bemoan cultural appropriation yet celebrate a holiday that means nothing to you? The lack of self awareness is awesome.