Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Happy Kwanzaa. (If I have forgotten any please let me know.)
Today is the Feast Day of St. Nicholas. As a Catholic saints days are of great meaning. Now of course there are saint feast days everyday that we all seemingly ignore (myself included.) St. Nicholas is one we don't forget though. He was an important dude. The story goes that he anonymously gave the gift of gold to a poor man, so the man's daughters could be married. This has led to gift giving on St. Nicholas Day. Which translated on to gifts at Christmas and some cultures calling Santa Claus: St. Nick. My own Mother (not even a Catholic, but a protestant) celebrates the day with a small gift. Admittedly, I have not celebrated this saint day with gifts since moving out 7 years ago. However today I got to thinking about the day and whether St. Nicholas would really want us to exchange presents on his feast day. Was that really his life's purpose? Probably not. Not to say that exchanging a gift as a nice thought is bad...but I think our gifts should have some meaning behind them. His gift to the poor man was done anonymously and with kindness in his heart. He didn't expect anything back.
St. Nicholas Day comes at sort of the start of the Christmas season. We go to parties, get togethers and luncheons. We bake cookies and wrap presents. In the midst of all of this I want to make sure that we aren't losing the meaning of everything. Yes historically we know Jesus Christ probably wasn't born on December 24 or 25. Despite this minor discrepancy....it's the season of joy & thanksgiving. Find joy in your life and be thankful for what you have. We will never have everything that we think we want or need, yet that doesn't mean we can't be joyful & happy.
Choose happiness. It will fulfill your life with so many more blessings.
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