Merry Christmas!

I’m tapping this out on the WordPress app for my iPod Touch whilst seated next to the Dragonlet in the back seat of the car. We’re on our way, the fam-jam and I, to see the Dragoness’ parents in Vermilion for Christmas Eve dinner; weather permitting, we’ll be headed back to Edmonton for Christmas Day, to see my family.

The Dragoness is driving, the Dragonlet is sleeping, and I’m thinking that it’s high time I posted an update to the site; that, and it’s time for my customary Christmas greeting.

In the past, I’ve subdivided greetings into categories (for fellow Catholics, fellow Christians, other believers, and non-believers), and if I weren’t typing on an iPod’s tiny keyboard, I might have opted to repeat that format this year. But as it is, I’m sitting in the back of a Chrysler Sebring tapping away on my iPod, so I think a more general greeting is warranted.

Whether, good reader, you are a believer or not, and whether you are a Christian or not, hopefully you can recognize that Christmas has a deeper and more powerful meaning that goes beyond the usual trappings of the season. Past the gifts, the trees, the feasts, past the rank commercialism and sappy TV specials, and even past the gatherings of family and friends, there is something deeper that infuses this time of year.

That thing is love, and in particular is a special kind of love, one that most certainly can be (and is) shared between friends (in good friendships) and family members (in functional families), but which can also be shared between complete strangers. it can even be shared in a way such that the recipient of it remains ignorant of it.

Christians will recognize what I’m talking about; this is the love that Christ exuded with every breath, word, and action, and then in no way more powerfully than by His death on the Cross. But that same love’s first act was the humble birth of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

“Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” That humble birth was the first step on a road that lead inexorably to Calvary; the infant born that night was already bound, in His own small way, for the encounter with Pilate and then the Cross. But out of love, Jesus humbled Hinself to be born as one of us, for He desired to bring us a gift beyond any we might ever imagine receiving.

And that’s a gift offered to all of us. Granted, we don’t all — or always — see that gift. But even so, there it is, bestowed whether or not we are ignorant of it.

That’s the kind of love that infuses Christmastine; self-giving, humble, unexpactant love of others, and a desire for their betterment, even if only in some small way.

Now, before I turn this into a sermon, and before the Dragonlet wakes up, let me come to the point. It’s Christmas; to every reader, I wish a truly joyous Christmas and an earnest prayer that its days will be filled with the warmth and love of family and friends.

But I would also like to offer a challenge. We’ve all likely dropped some change in the Salvation Army collection bowl, or dropped a few cans of food off at a local food bank. My challenge, then, is: do even more, if at all you are able. Volunteer at a soup kitchen. Check a local shelter’s website to see if they need help with anything. Help hand out presents at a children’s hospital. Bake cookies and hand them out to street people downtown. Put aside aprehension, misgivings, and critiques for a while and just help someone, directly, in his or her immediate need.

In other words: love, to the maximum extent you are able. If you take no other meaning or message away from these days, take that much. And if you do take deeper meaning away from these days, you already know why I’m asking this.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Now go be excellent to each other.

9 Responses

  1. Dear Ken, and of cource this goes out to Grace and little Ella as well (the the dear readers out there). A very merry Christmas to you all from germany – ‘t was close to a white Christmas this year – I hope you all will have a great time with friends, families and loved ones (and alway remember what we are allowed to celebrate today – Christ the Savior is born!).

    Thank you, Ken, for keeping up the work with Aiera, for all the thoughts you share with us – please continue to receive this piece of jewelry for us.

  2. Ergonpandilus Dragon says:

    Merry Christmas for your whole family from the north. 😀

  3. wtf_dragon says:

    Thanks!

    Hey, Ergon…whereabouts in the frozen north do you call home?

  4. Ergonpandilus Dragon says:

    Finland, yesterday the temperature did go as low as -29’C (-20’F). *Grrrr…* Favorite thing to do in this kind of weather in Finland is of course first go to sauna (+80’C is good for me) and then jump outside and then dive to snow (-30’C). Afterwards you feel awesome (really!) and adrenaline rushes through your body.

  5. wtf_dragon says:

    That’s pretty brutal, though I do agree with the hot tub trick; that can be quite fun and stimulating.

    My home city of Edmonton plummeted as low as -37 C (-50-odd with windchill) during mid-December. Sadly, we don’t have a hot tub, though I think at those temperatures the result might be less “adrenaline rush” and more “system shock.”

  6. Ergonpandilus Dragon says:

    Heh, it’s kind of a system shock indeed, but fun. Even more “shocking” traditiion in winter is swim in a hole in the ice of a lake or sea. 😉

    http://kotisivu.dnainternet.fi/anjaxy/avantouinti.jpg

    Interesting, I didn’t knew it gets that cold in Edmonton.

  7. wtf_dragon says:

    Oooh, that does look cold.

    As for Edmonton, yeah, we do get that cold. It’s been a goodly while since we’ve seen such temperatures, though they were not uncommon in my grade-school days.

    Actually, it’s nice. Okay, the whole “exposed skin will freeze in 30 seconds” kind of sucks, but I quite appreciate the volume of snow in my front yard at present. It has not been that deep in recent years.

  8. Ergonpandilus Dragon says:

    Yeah, this year has been the coldest year in Finland since 2003 they say.

    How about if you would wrote an entry about You and Ultima? About how you too “get to together” in the first place, what games you have played, how it has affected on your life, what kind of pleasent memories you have from it and how do you feel about if you look Ultima now retrospectively.

  9. wtf_dragon says:

    2003 sounds about right at this end, too. I’d have to go over my photo archives, but…yeah, that does sound about right.

    As to the requested article…hmmn. I don’t usually do requests, but hey…why not? Sounds like fun, and it’ll give me something to work on during the bus ride home.