So...Christmas again. I remember what it was like when I was a child. Every year, or most years, anyway, Mom would tell us not to count on any presents because we were really broke. But we always got something. The year I turned 10, I had discovered ice skating on a frozen pond at the back of our property, and even though I only had my Dad's beat up Size 12 hockey skates, the toes stuffed with paper, it was fun, gliding, turning, trying to whirl...
I let my brothers have turns, and they were naturals, even though they must have been 5 and 3 at the time.
I SO wanted skates of my own for Christmas, but it was one of those lean years. Christmas Eve arrived, with something special for 'supper'...maybe pancakes, or raisin toast, and hot chocolate, and there was a package for me! I pulled out a pair of white skates! How wonderful! They had a price tag on a piece of masking tape--$2.00, and a few scuff marks. Obviously, they were used, but I didn't care. That was probably the most memorable Christmas present I ever had.
We didn't have a tree, because that was a considered a pagan custom, and anyway, who could afford ornaments? But what we did have was a secure family,  and  traditions, like reading the Christmas story from Luke 2. I quite often was the reader, and I loved the feeling of the Old English King James version on my tongue, and its sound in my ears.
We always had a Christmas concert at school, and I pretty well always had a major part, because I was  good at memorizing, and there would be another concert at church, with lots of carols, which I loved.

Fast forward to the present. The advertising and hype begins before December. Apparently, people are buying each other huge TV sets and diamonds, electronics like smart phones and game systems. 

People are fighting over whether we can use the words "Merry Christmas" or "Christmas tree" or not, and it seems a little ironic that the angels said something about peace on earth.
I miss the way it was. Not the poverty, of course, which has  continued and is probably more common than it was then...but I miss the simplicity, and the focus on the origins of the celebration.
I rebel in little ways: I rarely spend more than $40 on anyone. Cards go in the mail just before the date on which they're pretty well guaranteed to be delivered before the 25th, and I don't decorate until the weekend before. This year, most people are getting homemade gifts from me. I'd rather be thought cheap than end up in debt.
Season's greetings! Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel!