As far as I'm concerned, Christmas has NOT changed in the 34 years I've been on this planet.

Some people spend it getting grumpy and feeling put-upon to give what they'd rather not to people they'd rather not remain close to. Some people spend it celebrating their religion. Some people spend it getting warm and close to family and loved ones. Some people spend it complaining about how the "real" meaning of Christmas is lost. Some people try so hard to beinclusive they wind up with a very tepid holiday. Some peoplee drink. Some people get depressed. Some people get so flighty and giddy they may as well be toddlers. Some people say "well, it's really a holiday for the kids, isn't it?" Some people are upset that their winter holiday isn't the one everybody else talks about. Some people misbehave at office parties. Some people overeat. Some people buy billboards to remind us of Jesus. Some people make fun of those billboards and feel smug.

In the winter, the nights are longer and the days grow shorter and colder. Just about every society has some sort of ritualized celebration of the turning of the tide, when the nights start getting shorter again. Christmas is neither more Christian, more Pagan, nor more commercial than it ever was. It continues to be an individual thing, different for everybody, and difficult to grasp if taken as a whole.

Thus spake the one who declared he wanted to be Santa Claus when he grew up.

8December2003