Thank you, hambeak! And a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too! I love saying that with no guilt. I love acknowledging someone's sneeze with a "bless you" to acknowledge that I care about their well-being.
I really enjoyed decorating the tree at our office, with the help of our receptionist who is similarly new to the concept of decorating Christmas trees. She's Thai by birth and her culture, while accepting of all traditions, doesn't usually bother with the traditional trappings of Christmas. So we had a good time setting things up and she did a beautiful, artistic job of placing the ornaments on the tree. We talked about traditions and I told her what I knew about the history of Christmas -- and suddenly it hit me -- this is a melding of many different cultures: Christian, Roman, pagan, Druid, and it's a time when all those cultures come together in harmony. The concept of "pure religion," otherwise known as "my way or the highway" to hell, jihad, or whatever, is not only confrontational but the source of wars, hostility, racial and religious prejudice and just plain bad feelings.
If we all accept one another and our own individual traditions as one whole celebration of joy instead of worrying who's right and who's wrong, the world would be a happier place.
And yesterday we had the most beautiful sunset in Dallas. I love this time of year!
Cheers,
Nina
