Another Christmas!!!
So whats it about eh?
Christmas is about walking along the Green Line in Cyprus and hearing a Moslem Turk calling over to us "Merry Christmas my good friend!". Christmas is about cookies and cakes and family get togethers. Christmas is about a sweet smelling tree, and Turkish Delight and strong coffee with cinnamon in it and a fat guy in a red suit.
Christmas is about kids, dogs, and turkeys. (Make sure you eat the right one.)
Christmas is often considered a holiday only for some cult called Christians. That some Christians seem to feel that it is the most important date. It is not, of course, Easter is. The early church fathers stole the birthdate of Mithras and applied it to their own guy, added the story of the birth of the Egyptian God Isis, and built a nonsense story about shepherds and angels and other items of superstition. The story does not even stand up to a superficial examination...how could Jesus be descended from the line of David and still be impregnated magically? How come a bunch of shepherds? Why not a mayor of maybe an innkeeper? Nah...cute story, but you know, it doesn't really make the slightest difference whether the story is "technically" real or not. Like the answer to Virginia who asked if Santa Claus was real, the fact is that Santa Claus, or for that matter, angels, and shepherds and virgin births are all incredibly real, as real as the emotions and feelings of the people involved. As real as a dream of success. As real as the emotions you feel at the sounding of the "last post". As real as the ghosts who walk these walls of Nicocea this fine Christmas eve.
As I write this, it is just midnight, on a Christmas eve in Cyprus. The weather is turning cold, and people are shivering in marquee tents outside Heathrow airport, and running from the risk of collapsing airport roofs in Paris. And they are singing Christmas carols. Some songs are sweet, and faint on the breeze, some off key and as ugly as they are heartfelt. All are welcome.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope that all have enough to eat, and it it my fondest wish that the new year will find you and your loyal family free from evil.
Bill
