"On the Christmas Spirit"

spirit:  n.  The manner or style of something.

It is that time of the year, Christmas. There is enough sugar and fat in the excessive amounts of candy, cookies, and goodies being produced in kitchens everywhere to clog the arteries of the strongest of men. Christmas baking for me consists of melting chocolate chips in the microwave and adding a variety of ingredients to create delectable, tasty treats. If not enough to cause a heart attack, they have the potential to at least make a person very sick.

As a gardener, I dispose of grass clippings, weeds, and branches at a local business. The debris is shredded and converted to compost or other planting mediums. I maintain it’s the perfect enterprise. They charge me for my dumping, then I pay for a completed product, one for which I have provided the basic resource.

The dump site is managed by several young men, most of them in their twenties. As tends to happen while I am out and about, I have become acquainted with some of them as they share parts of their lives while I am paying to dump my load. I know that one of them was recently married; another is taking some time off from college in order to get a better perspective of the direction he wants to go; another played football in high school and now spends his weekends in a “royal battle” of sorts. They greet me with a smile and know by now I will refuse their offer to help me unload.

A large container for gift-giving was purchased and will be filled to the brim with candy then dropped off at the refuse site today. One could say I have the Christmas spirit.

Being filled with the Christmas spirit is not a phrase typically applied to me. Never a “bah, humbug” person, the holiday itself is simply not that important to me. Lights, decorating, the tree—all things I can live without. A daughter expressed it well when she said, “You always did and have put on a good Christmas face for your kids and grandkids.” It’s good to know I haven’t mortally damaged my family’s love for the holiday.

A seeming contradiction, ornaments are made for each of the children and grandchildren every year, my share of gifts are added under the tree, a tradition of selfless gift-giving for the grandgirls is being established by giving them money to donate to others. I do not have a love for this holiday. But then, I have no love for any other holiday either.

Holidays come and holidays go, and so it will be with Christmas.

Over the years I have wrestled with what could only be perceived as a negative outlook, as I questioned the point of bringing a tree into the house, the obscene amount of “stuff” collected under that tree, all culminating in said gifts being dispersed, many to be forgotten before the next holiday comes along.

This is where I have landed, however—one day out of 365 is not a statement of a person’s life. Kindness, generosity, empathy, caring, selflessness, and love are important qualities that need to be manifest in one’s daily life and not limited to presenting a beautifully wrapped package to be opened on Christmas. They are traits that should be applied to all of life and the living of it, not just during a particular season.

And so, in a personal gesture, also known as “having the Christmas spirit,” I head out with my very large box of candy, delivering it to the guys at Rexius Fuel. It is my way of thanking them for revealing parts of their lives to me and for allowing me to get to know them. People matter. Holidays not so much.