Christmas
Meditation
Shortly after the death of his father and little girl in 1851, Charles Dickens reflected on the meaning of Christmas in an essay titled What Christmas Is As We Grow Older. The essay, written in London, was published in Household Words magazine. The essay is a reflection of the meaning of Christmas as a child, “Time was, with most of us, when Christmas Day encircling all our limited world like a magic ring…” to a mature perspective when “Time came, perhaps, all so soon, when our thoughts over-leaped that narrow boundary…”
As we grow older, we realize that Christmas stretches beyond the present magic of mysterious presents placed under a tree, to an occasion for fellowship with family and friends, “Therefore, as we grow older, let us be more thankful that the circle of our Christmas associations and of the lessons that they bring, expands! Let us welcome every one of them, and summon them to take their places by the Christmas hearth.”
Christmas is also a time for reflection on what was and what could have been, welcoming each. “And is our life here, at the best, so constituted that, pausing as we advance at such a noticeable mile-stone in the track as this great birthday, we look back on the things that never were, as naturally and full as gravely as on the things that have been and are gone, or have been and still are?”
Throughout the essay Dickens emphasized that Christmas is a spirit that is celebrated and relished not just once a year, but throughout the year. “Nearer and closer to our hearts be the Christmas spirit, which is the spirit of active usefulness, perseverance, cheerful discharge of duty, kindness and forbearance! It is in the last virtues especially, that we are, or should be, strengthened by the unaccomplished visions of our youth; for, who shall say that they are not our teachers to deal gently even with the impalpable nothings of the earth!”
The magic of Christmas. When my two brothers and I were youngsters, we were so excited about Christmas presents (not Christmas Day) that we were in perpetual motion all through the night. After a few years of this our parents’ acquaintance, and the new Love family tradition became opening gifts on Christmas Eve.
As years have gone by Christmas has taken on solemn magic. For many it is the joy of children and grandchildren. It is the merriment of a table laden with food. It is also a time of empty chairs placed at the table. Hanging from the hearth are stockings holding empty dreams. Though, through it all, the warmth of the yule log radiates a spirit that can never be extinguished.