Get Your Christmas On

It’s time my friends, to nuzzle down into the comfort of holiday traditions.
We’ve got holidays galore this time of year, all you have to do is select your favorite and jump right in to the merry making.

It’s the dark time of the year, but the solstice, that pagan celebration of the renewal of the sun, is just weeks away.

For you science fans- The Earth's axis of rotation makes an angle of about 23.44° called the "obliquity of the ecliptic" (good name for a jazz band). As a consequence, for half the year the northern hemisphere tips to the Sun, with the maximum around June 21st, the longest day of the year, while for the other half year the northern hemisphere tips away from the sun, with the maximum around December 21st, the shortest day of the year. The two moments when the inclination of Earth's rotational axis has maximum effect are the solstices.

The longest night of the year gives way to the earth tipping back to the warmth and light of summer, and that is the best reason to celebrate as far as I can tell.

However, you might be thinking that Christmas is what makes this time of year special, a babe born on a cold winter night, a babe huddled in a manger with animals who spoke. Given gifts by three wise men who, wisely, brought essential oils of frankincense, and myrrh. Christians celebrate this miraculous birth of the symbol of their religion and the savior of so many souls.

More for you science fans- Actually, experts think Jesus was born in July, not December, and that the church moved his birthday to coincide with the solstice celebrations, hoping to distract the pagans and win them over. According to the scientific information above, in the southern hemisphere, in July, it would have been winter and cold as it gets in the desert. Meanwhile, Frankincense and Myrrh oils are both high is sesquiterpenes, chemicals that awaken the emotional centers of the brain, and increase immune system function-good idea for a baby born in a barn in the winter!

Maybe Christmas is special to you because you just love the folk tale of a fat guy in a red suit who trains reindeer to fly- (in Siberia it’s thought that a Shaman can turn into a flying reindeer to journey to the spirit world- think there is some connection?) and brings toys to all the good girls and boys. Maybe the attraction is everything that goes with the folk tale- decorations, lights, trees, tinsel, music, parties. Or maybe the attraction is the candy, cookies, fudge, pies, fruit cakes, strudel, eggnog, and other seasonal ways to add weight. Maybe the rampant commercialism that marks the season in an over developed country like ours is right up your alley. What ever the draw, the season is here.

Let us not forget that not every one in the world is either pagan or Christian. There are other holidays we can choose from and acknowledge at this time of year, such as the festival of lights known as Hanukkah, central to the Jewish faith, and Kwanzaa, the celebration of African American history and culture. There is also Boxing Day - celebrated in countries once ruled by Britain. The roots of this holiday go back to the Middle Ages, when, on the day after Christmas, members of the merchant class would take boxes, fill them with food and fruits, and give them to servants, trades people and the less fortunate. Servants would be given a day off to celebrate after presumably working 24/7 for the past month to prepare for Christmas in the master’s house.

It seems there is a holiday for everyone, and all you have to do is get in the mood.

Now my scientific survey of random shoppers indicates there are a few souls out there that just haven’t found the Christmas spirit yet. ( translation- nasty bugger of an old lady cussing under her breath at the check out counter a few days ago telling me about “the damn season anyway- buy, buy, buy, that’s all people thinks about these days.”)

So, if you have worries that are making it hard to be in the “festival zone” for the holidays, if your troubles are overwhelming- if you have to much stress at work/home/school/with relatives/finances/kids/pets/that damn car/ what ever- let me help you with this guide to getting your Christmas on.

There are numerous ways to find your Christmas spirit, if it happens to be missing. Let’s look at a few of them-

What says holiday like an evening cuddled up in front of the TV watching Bing and Danny get the girls? Full of memorable music, and one of my favorite choreographed scenes – (Bing and Danny changing clothes after the “sisters” show, while they have a little heart to heart talk. I wonder how many times they went through that complicated routine before it was looking like they didn’t have to think about it?), White Christmas is a classic, along with Love Actually, Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, and - insert your favorite holiday movie title here. There are so many fine movies and TV specials to choose from- who can resist a re-run of A Charlie Brown Christmas (originally released Dec. 9th, 1965!) , or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or - insert the name of your favorite holiday special here- . So gather up the snacks, preferably holiday-ish ones, a blank-ee, some DVD’s and hit the couch for some holiday down time with the TV.

The Holiday season would just not be complete with out the holiday music that engulfs us from early November right through the New Year. I don’t mind, I mean, quit complaining and lend your voice to the merriment and get into the music! Sing at the top of your lungs, all those songs you remember from high school choir. Hum along with the ones you don’t know- and get up and dance when the moment permits- like in the grocery store when you hear “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” start blaring from the store wide speakers. Nothing will elevate your mood, (nothing legal anyway), and put you in the spirit, like a bit of song and dance, and hey, it’s good exercise too!

Decorations are everywhere. In fact, I think the stores just run in with a paint brush after Halloween and paint all those pumpkins white and try to pass them off as snowmen. To get in a holiday mood, get ye a thermos of hot chocolate and pile in the car to cruse the ‘hood and take in all the decorations. I took a walk last night and sure enough, once around the block and an eye full of brightly lit Santas, snowmen, candy canes and holly wreaths left me feeling like I should turn on the tree lights and flick the switch for my own display of little twinklies on the porch. I passed many homes with multiple trees viewed through windows and wondered where they got enough spirit to decorate not one, but two trees! If your town has a major lights display, and the traffic is not too horrendous (our town does and the traffic is) you can cruse that rather than the neighborhood, that way, you are not likely to be taken for a criminal “casing the joint” to look for piles of presents to make your holiday bright.

What better way to get in the mood for a holiday than to cook up the delights of the season. Notice I say cook up, not eat up. This, my friends, is because it is better to give than receive, better to bake and give away than bake and eat. Unless of course you really want to be two sizes larger by March. So get out your favorite holiday goodie recipes and make a bunch of sweet stuff to pass off on your friends. Personally, I say to heck with the cookies, if we are going to make sweet stuff, lets cut out the white flour and add more sugar, so this year I’m making candy. And, in case that alone doesn’t give me that warm fuzzy holiday season feeling I decided to make rum balls and bourbon pralines, so I have to have a couple of bottles of booze in the house for the candy making. Now most of you have seen that recipe for fruit cake where the cook drinks the brandy and throws the egg beater out the window. That is where I got the idea for the boozy candy.

While the goodies are cooking, get out the check book and write a little something to your favorite charity. It doesn’t have to be a large sum, just a little something. Nothing says holiday mood like remembering those that are less fortunate than our selves. While you are at it, write out a holiday card to someone who is probably not going to get a card from anyone else. I bet if you look through your date book, address book or e-mail file you can zero in on someone whose holiday would be a lot brighter if just one card landed in their mailbox. If you still have something to give, that won’t put your own finances in a bind, head out to the mall and find the giving tree. Pick a card off the tree and go to it. This may be one of the most holiday mood manifesting rituals ever invented by humans. Giving a bunch of holiday joy to some child you don’t even know, can elevate your mood and affect their life deeply, in ways you will never even know. What could be more holiday-ee?

So go now, get your Christmas on- and have a happy holiday, which ever holiday you choose to celebrate!