“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” – Charles Dickens

When I was a child, there was a TV special that ran on PBS one Christmas Eve that has stuck with me all of these years. Back in 1978, when I was 5 years old, Sesame Street made a special prime time episode called “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street”. It starred the usual characters, like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster, and as it goes with Sesame Street, through the fun, they taught some important lessons. One lesson I learned during this show was a through a song that was featured in the show called “Keep Christmas With You”. The lyrics and message of the song were simple.

“Keep Christmas with you

All through the year,

When Christmas is over,

You can keep it near.

Think of this Christmas day

When Christmas is far away.

Keep Christmas with you

All through the year,

When Christmas is over,

Save some Christmas cheer

These precious moments

Hold them very dear

And keep Christmas with you

All through the year.

Christmas means the spirit of giving

Peace and joy to you,

The goodness of loving,

The gladness of living;

These are Christmas too.

So, keep Christmas with you

All through the year,

When Christmas is over,

Save some Christmas cheer.

These precious moments,

Hold them very dear

And keep Christmas with you

All through the year.”

The message is so profound yet so simple. Just because the tree is down and the presents are put away, it doesn’t mean all of the goodness and joy that is Christmas has to wait another year to be brought out again, too. Christmas is about a lot more than this.

It’s not just a time of year or a holiday. It’s a state of mind.  Christmas really is the culmination of all that is good in this world. It’s the innocence of a child’s smile and the joyful glint in their eyes.

It’s the hope that we each hold in our hearts for people and things we might otherwise give up on. It’s the faith we all need to hold on to when we have nothing else to keep us going. It’s the generosity of sharing what we have and giving of ourselves to others who might not have as much as we do, without thought or expectation to receive anything in return.

It’s the love and care we should give freely to one another for no other reason than to make someone happy and make someone feel loved and know that someone cares about them. It’s showing kindness to others for no other reason than it’s the right thing to do.

THESE things are what Christmas is really all about. THESE are the gifts the season brings to us every year. THESE are the gifts and the true spirit of Christmas that we can continue to share with each other all year. THESE are the gifts that we not only can continue to give to others but in the process, give back to ourselves as well.

In a world sometimes filled with harshness and cruelty, we can each create a place of warmth and of comfort within ourselves and share this place with others. Just imagine what a difference could be made if just a few more people decided to make a conscience effort to do this. I’m not saying it would change the world but perhaps it could make one small corner of it just a bit more bearable, a bit sweeter, when the harshness of it’s reality makes itself known.

So perhaps this year while we are enjoying the warmth and sunshine that Spring and Summer bring, a time when Christmas is the furthest things from our thoughts, we can take just a few moments to think back to how we feel during this magical time of year and think about how when we were children, just how much we would have wished to make it Christmas every day….. and think about just how wondrous it is that as adults, we have the power to make this wish come true.

This time of year inspires lots of holiday cheer, so please enjoy a small sample of mine right here!

Best Wishes and happy holidays to all of you!

Until next time….ta ta and ho ho ho toodles,

~Tracie Dee~