It’s that time of year again!

I do this every Christmas, so if you’re new to the site…don’t fret that I’ve gone too far in terms of posting stuff that doesn’t directly concern the topic of Ultima. Arguably, I went too far months ago, and haven’t come back from that far point yet.

So once again, it’s Christmas. Around this time every year, for at least the last three years (maybe more), I’ve prepared a little message, wishing folks well for the Christmas season and New Year’s. Sometimes, I’ve split the message up a bit, targeting different audiences (non-religious, non-Christian, Christian, and Catholic) with a basic message that saw minor adjustments made for each grouping. I didn’t do that last year (I don’t think), and I don’t intend to do it this year…more for lack of time than anything else.

But don’t worry…I don’t intend to get preachy.

It would be easy — trivially easy, in fact — to allow a note of bitterness to creep in, to complain at the commercialization of the Christmas season and bemoan the fact that even the word “Christmas” seems to be getting shoved out of the public eye by measures large and small. But what would be the point in doing that, apart from turning the good reader off of what else I might care to say? Besides, it would probably be something akin to a near occasion of sin for me to start on such musings.

There’s been a healthy irreverence on display here on the site for the past week, as I’ve subjected Britannia’s famous faces to JibJab-powered tomfoolery. There’s something oddly (and appropriately) symbolic about capping all of that off with a more meaningful reflection; it’s not unlike the same oddly-fitting contrast seen in the Christmas celebration at Rockefeller Center that John Zmirak remarks upon in the article linked above.

Chesterton once remarked that “The great majority of people will go on observing forms that cannot be explained; they will keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions; they will continue to do it; and some day suddenly wake up and discover why.” It’s a sentiment that rather closely mirrors something that Sergorn Dragon and I were talking about yesterday.

Of course, not everybody celebrates Christmas as me, the Dragoness, and the Dragonlets will be celebrating it; Christmas is not practiced as a religious holiday by everyone. Obviously, it began as a religious observance, and then one of great joy. Partly out of that joy, and partly as a way of “sanctifying” the folk rituals in practice in the various lands that Christianity spread to, the feast and observance came to incorporate rituals like gift-giving and elaborate decorations, all of which were meant to be symbols for the things that characterize the Nativity narratives in the Gospels.

And let’s be honest: most of us do these things. The trees may be artificial, we may have swapped out LEDs for candles, and the nature of the presents has changed, but we all — religious and non-religious alike — do mean something by them, and it’s something that is by some measures the same regardless of what else we believe.

We let ourselves be drawn into the mystery that pervades this time of year, we remember the things that matter and draw us close, and we desire the best for others. Whether or not we take our sons and/or daughters to church on Christmas morning, we’ll revel in every look of wonder and joy that crosses their face as they behold the presents underneath the tree and rip into them with the incomparable zeal and energy that only the very young can display. We’ll gather with family, pass the wine, carve the turkey…and hopefully let the differences that might otherwise divide us melt away, for a few days at least.

So, my wish to you all this Christmas: Go on observing forms that cannot be explained; keep Christmas Day with Christmas gifts and Christmas benedictions. Be with family and friends, revel in the joy and partake of the feast. And spare a moment, if only a moment, to wonder at that great mystery which is behind it all.

By the way: If I don’t post anything to the site for the next few days, well…actually, you should pretty much expect that I won’t be doing anything like that. We’re booked solid with get-togethers from now until Boxing Day, and after that we’re heading out of town to see the Dragoness’ parents. I might have something to post before 2011, but if not…Happy New Year to everyone, as well as Merry Christmas.