I know there are those who “hate” Christmas because of the shopping, the money, the inordinate overflow of traffic, the “tacky” decorations, and some even hate the music. Additionally, there are those that suggest we cancel Christmas.

It seems that every year for the last few years I have gotten ill with some form of sinus challenge and all of its resulting coughing, fatigue, sleeplessness and so on.

However, I have given little thought to it previously. Therefore, when asked what was going on with my health, I took some time to get in touch with my thoughts on this time of year. I have always seemed to love Christmas. The music, the kindness, the generosity there appeared to be some much positive yet, obviously something more was going on under the surface.

Then it hit me, I hate Christmas.

I think I have hated Christmas most of my life – probably Freudian for a number of reasons including other celebrations and deaths, but now, I find that I can’t abide the whole false front. I hate the hype at Christmas time. I also hate the fact that people are “extra nice” at this time of year.

I hate the money involved as well as the concept that everything and everyone has to be special for this short period of time when we “celebrate Christ’s birth”.

How is it that once a year we have a celebration with millions of participants the world over? How is it that we have a celebration that brings even temporary peace to countries sworn to destroy each other? Why do we relegate the activities to have a celebration that encourages a unique behavior of “Peace on Earth” and “ Goodwill toward men” to 3 to 6 weeks a year? And no, I am not overlooking the commercialism that has made it more like 8-12 weeks.

If you and I believe in Christ, and if that is why we embrace this holiday, wouldn’t it make more sense to celebrate 365 days a year?

Couldn’t we be a little more generous with our hearts and our time, our thoughts and our goodwill, over the year instead of an isolated period?

Across the last few days, as I have healed, I further realized that I don’t really HATE Christmas. I hate the excuse to behave differently once a year. And so, like Tiny Tim, I am going to make a concerted effort to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive all year long.

Dedicated to peace and good-will you will find me posting daily on the Spirit of Christmas and together we can see how many ways we can keep Christmas every day of the year.