Today's The Big Day

Today being Christmas, I ought to say something about it. I know that I oughtn't assume that everyone's Christmas traditions are like mine. I know how the holiday has gone for me, and how I prefer for it to go. For me, it's a small, private occasion. It's shared with the closest of family, and it's confined to the home. When the lead up to the day is so loud and busy and takes you all over the place in search of gifts, why must the day itself follow suit?

Other people do things differently, and I grant that it is out of some necessity sometimes. People who work on Christmas and celebrate on a different day are not to be condemned, nor are those who cannot be with their family. There are, however, those who could have a properly traditional Christmas and who decide against it. I don't know why it is that that they do that, and while I'm going to devote the time to analyze it, I suppose I shouldn't bother.

Some people consider a trip to the movies to be a reasonable part of the holiday, and the scheduling of premiers on the day suggests that it's really a lot of people. I wish they wouldn't. I know I have no desire to go out and see a lot of people working on that day. I don't want to rub elbows with a lot of unwashed strangers either. I guess that I can do things my way and they can do things their way, and we won't bother each other.

Perhaps the time will come that I have a day which agrees less with my present values and more with those of the people I don't especially care for. Undoubtedly at such time I will have very good reasons, and the reasons I have now for doing what I do will make no sense. It has been that way with plenty of things in life already, and I don't know why my feelings about Christmas should be any more enduring. I guess we'll see.