But once a year

(c) 2009 by Steve Martaindale

With thanks given and Black Friday behind us, we now ease into that most wonderful time of the year.

Given all the commercial hoopla that now surrounds Christmas, all the pressure to have the best decorations and correct gifts, it might be easy to forget why we look forward to the yuletide season.


Entering many stores, we encounter someone ringing a bell next to a red kettle. Once we get over the fact he is there to make it easy for us to part with money, we see a certain beauty.

The bell ringer does not ask for money but merely presents the opportunity for us to give. Unless we engage him in conversation, all we are likely to hear are Christmas wishes and thanks for giving.

We take away a bit of a warm feeling, knowing the Salvation Army will use our small donations to help ease someone else’s material burdens during the holidays.

It’s only a small bit of money and Christmas comes but once a year.

The shopping itself is sometimes stressful, dealing with crowds and searching for perfect gifts, but we can make even that special because the desire to please someone dear to us guides our efforts. As we consider this present or that, we experience the anticipated joy of surprising each person on our list.

Helping get us into the spirit is Christmas music, both religious and secular. Whether it is “Silent Night” or “Frosty the Snowman,” songs of the season are happy and/or peaceful. Even if it seems we receive a near overdose of Christmas music, we tend to soak it in because it comes only once a year.

Holiday Style

While driving after dark, the landscape is often set aglow by lights, be it a simple strand along the eaves of a house or an elaborate display featuring a manger scene or inflatable snowmen. In tough economic times and with an always-looming energy problem, it seems people might hold back, might save the money spent on lights and electricity.

But, hey, it’s Christmas and we won’t have the opportunity to do this again for another year.

Dare we mention the food?

Like so many of our holidays, Christmas brings a chance to offer our taste buds tempting treats that other times of the year seem an overindulgence.

From honey-glazed hams to candy canes, we partake of delights that will likely help us form New Year’s resolutions, but it’s OK; Christmas comes but once a year.

Quick additions to the list of why we look forward to Christmas include recalling memories as we place special ornaments on the tree; touching base with old friends, even if it’s through an exhaustive form letter; treasuring the looks of joy on the faces of children; opening up to strangers with a “Merry Christmas” or even a more generic “Happy Holidays”; reciting “’Twas the Night Before Christmas”; reading the original Christmas story from the Gospels; watching classic holiday movies again; and ... well, add your own.

There are those who will bah-humbug the season, say it’s too commercialized, say it’s too focused on one religion ... whatever.

But they will get coal in their stockings and we will enjoy the season because Christmas comes but once a year.
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