Are you one of people who say that no one
will take away our festive season and that we have the right to celebrate
Christmas as we have in the past. Do you say, 'These people came to our country and accepted our terms and
conditions so suck it up! We will continue to say Merry Christmas and if they
don’t like it they can go home!' If you are, you are not alone. Australia is a very tolerant, easy going Nation, but to most Christmas is sacred, a tradition that is bound into the very fibre of the Australian psyche.
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| en.wikipedia.org |
I believe that Christmas is a wonderful time
and that we should embrace it, celebrate it, and keep our wonderful tradition. We fly around the world at this time of year
and we embrace the traditions that have been put into play in other countries
owing to their customs and beliefs.
However, as said previously, I do get tired of
the whinging from a small minority that
have entered our shores, that Christmas and the birth of Christ somehow offends them. I get tired and disappointed that a lot
of people say, 'I couldn't be bothered this year, its too much effort.' I get tired of the oldies who say, 'Leave it to
the kids this year.' I get tired of the
people who say, 'Can't decorate until after the 1st December!'
Why is it that these people who hang strongly to
tradition who make these excuses. For the
old, what problem is it to bring your family in to dress, and undress, your home
to show and celebrate your beliefs. God knows, your
kids may grab the spirit and elevate it to a level that you may not have even
contemplated. To those who say they
couldn’t be bothered with opening boxes and stringing a few baubles around
because your too busy, I ask you, 'Are you the ones who want Christmas to be celebrated in the way
tradition has always been?' To those who
say, 'Not until after December 1', where did this tradition start? Or in fact, have you already bowed to another
countries calendar and beliefs by waiting for ‘Thanksgiving’ to pass. Hello!!! We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in this
country.
There is no hard and fast rule in our
country. We celebrate Christmas full
stop. Whether we start on the 1st of
November or the 24th of December, just do it.
Be unified in the way that we celebrate the very essence that our country has been
built on. Just enjoy, display, and
stand proud that we can do it. Don’t
succumb to peer pressure and say, 'Hum bug, we didn't need it anyway!' and then in years
to come say, 'Give me the good old days.'
Yes, I am weird, granted, but I start my
decorations whenever I start to feel a foreboding presence of good will to man
and see every star twinkle as if Jesus may be born tomorrow. Yes I do believe, but I believe above all
whether you believe in Christ’s story or not, this is the season of love and
harmony. This is the season to
give. This is the season to shine our
light of our beliefs and traditions. I
dress my house to the best of my ability with a limited budget. Each year I add to my collection. Each year I add to the memories of old,
remembering those that have been here and now gone that I want to celebrate
with. That is indeed what God is all
about, love, friendship and caring for each other.
Don’t be complacent with what is happening. It was not that long ago that these holidays
were that, holidays. Holidays in which the
world stopped, while we enjoyed family and friends. Sneakily however, those holidays have
disappeared and we have Christmas Day. Then back to it on Boxing Day. Family can’t just pop in when the
expectation is for them to be there for work on the Boxing Day sales. Or, that people are
so disorganised that they could not stock an extra bottle of milk allowing Coles
and Woolies to seize the opportunity to open to cut your holiday short even further. Not so far back, Easter ‘the Holiest of Holy’
was a 4 day break to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. Now, we tend to have a day on the Friday to
think about his death, by Saturday we are busy kicking sand in his grave as we are racing to get to the shopping mall.
I ask you, when are we going to rise and be
counted for our beliefs. When are we
going to shine, and show the world, that we too have tradition and we are not
afraid to show it. (To hell with what
others think) When are we going to lobby
our politicians and express that we want Christmas Carols in schools, and that
we need to say Merry Christmas to whoever we please.
To those who make the excuses for not standing
to be counted in our celebration, I ask you, will you not be the first to say,
‘What happened?’ when it is all gone.
We at Winc have prided ourselves on the
Christmas spirit. We have been and still
are proud to bring love and happiness to our world through our wraps. These wraps are not just pieces of fabric to
be discarded after one use but fabrics of our being which when carefully handled,
will herald another Christmas, New Year, birthday, wedding and other
celebrations that will build traditions that over the years. Celebrations that will build a
country of love peace and harmony for our future.
So join with me and shine your Christmas light
and let the detractors, the procrastinators wonder how Christmas is still here when they have not lifted a finger to secure it in our calendars. Remember is easy to whine about something but
a lot harder to stand for the cause.
So come on, string up some tinsel, put a bit of
glitter in everyone's life, and come on, ring those bells!!!
Seasons Greetings.
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| syc.com.au |
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