Nativitas

Growing up in a Christian home meant that Christmas was a very special family celebration. Fortunately for us, my uncle's business was the provisioning of visiting ships. Thomas Gorman and Sons, Wholesale Groceries was located on the wharf at the bottom of King Street in Saint John. Although they did not sell to individuals, they did deliver to our family, almost everything in bulk. It was a 1940's Costco!

Our home was set on a hillock overlooking the Saint John Harbour. In the basement there was a large cold room carved into the shale rock. It was my responsibility to unpack the groceries and arrange them on the long shelves. I thought of this room as 'my domaine', especially around Christmas time when special foods arrived from Thomas Gorman and Sons. Along with the huge home-made  fruit cake, with its hard layered frosting, there were boxes of canned and fresh fruit, ribbon candy, assortments of  soft beverages, and my favourite - a four tiered brown box of Ganong Chocolates made right there in New Brunswick! It was my duty to keep my brothers and sisters at bay. The goodies had to sit tight till Christmas Day, waiting for the extended family dinner on the 25th. It was "the most wonderful time of the year".

No one really knows the actual birthday of Christ. Although the origin of Christmas is complex,  the religious and cultural celebrations around the winter solstice existed for centuries before Christ. (The Babylonians, Egyptians, Arabs and the Romans to name a few.)  In the fourth century the Christians in Rome piggybacked on an existing holiday known as Saturnalia, a week-long lawless festival, and declared it a Christian holiday. They reasoned they would win many more converts if they promised to retain the infidels celebration! Adapting 'pagan' customs and incorporating them into their religious culture, eventually became a common way to garner converts.

Just as the early Christians seized an existing celebration and made it their own, enterprising merchants in our time have hijacked Christmas and claimed it for their purposes - driving the materialistic and consumer driven economy. Thus we have Boxing Day, Boxing Week, Black Friday, Black Week and even Green Monday (on-line-shopping).

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As children were not permitted to open presents until after attending church, usually I was so excited I felt sick during the "Mass" part of "Christ-mass".  I understood the religious nature of the holiday, but what was far more important to me, was the gathering of the extended family in our home. The uncles, aunts, older nephews and nieces, occupied the dinner table, the smaller children  sat at a portable table close by. That annual gathering of the clan remains the highlight of my Christmas today, even though it is much more difficult to achieve in today's expanding world.

Instead of brooding over what to buy or being apprehensive of how the gift will be received, I will celebrate - family, love, joy, thankfulness and just being Merry for the right reasons. But more importantly, for this octogenarian, I am most thankful for the greatest present of all, the gift of love and the years to enjoy it.

TO ALL - HAVE A TRULY HAPPY CHRISTMAS SEASON

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week