CHRISTMAS WISHES

2025 – Snowman sculpture early beginnings

Date: 2025 12 23

CHRISTMAS

Christmas continues to be my all-time favorite time of the year. It has endured rough periods in my life, be it poor, sick and stressful. While sitting here thinking about the why, why do I celebrate Christmas? Why do I persist to greet people with a Merry Christmas? This inward reflection brings to mind that Stevie Wonder song, “What Christmas Means to Me”.

Growing up in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, particularly in Northern Ontario, winter was a magical time of the year. Winter transformed the world that I knew into a playground where impossible things are made possible; Walking on a water, sliding down a rocky hill, or creating sculptures with water. Adding to that mystical magical sense of world transformation is the setting of the sun around 4:30pm, earlier the further north you lived. Depending where I lived at the time, sometimes I was just getting of the school bus and it was getting dark out. Despite the sun setting so early, the snow on the ground lit up the night sky.

If that isn’t enough to make a child happy and excited, add music heard and sung for only a short period, and interior decorations where a tree is brought in and shiny toys (ornaments) are hung, not only was outside changing, inside was too. I can feel the excitement building remembering, seeing and hearing the world through the eyes of a child.

In my house, Santa Claus wasn’t a big thing, although there are a couple of photographs of me sitting on his lap, he was never the focus. There was no school for 2 weeks, and the lead up were Christmas concerts at schools and at churches drawing crowds of spectators creating an excitement in the air. Most people, regardless where you went seemed happier, and always greeted one another with a warm, “Merry Christmas.”

And the final piece for me was actually Christmas day, sure we had the exchanging of gifts, but for me then and to this day is the taking of time to gather with loved ones and share time together. Coming from a large family, my Grandparent’s house was filled my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Now, many years later, older, wiser, more worldly, I know from personal experience, that Christmas can be a tough time. Life happens and when it does, finding happiness in the smallest thing is a very hard thing to do. I also know that life is a journey filled with challenges, and having come out of some dark places, I know how easy it is to get lost and how destructive negativity is, to feel pity for myself and question, “Why me?” Whenever I was involved in such a journey I benefitted greatly from markers that helped guide me back to where I was supposed to be. Those markers weren’t always someone I cared about, sometimes they came from strange situations, but they helped me to get back on course. For those struggling to breathe, sometimes a gentle nudge can make all the difference.

So, WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS MEAN TO ME? It means the same, and more. Now more than ever, I make a concerted effort to celebrate Christmas and to share a little bit of happiness with others. What does happiness look like, it can be in the form of a smile, a handshake, holding a door, a kind word, shoveling, a candy cane, a piece of chocolate, time, whatever lightens the mood or load of another. Just being kind can make a difference.

In closing, I would like to thank you all for your support with my writing and following me along this journey. It certainly has been a crazy year, Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!

Mike

 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

The APOK series, written by Canadian author Michael Walton, is a trilogy of fast-paced, politically charged action thrillers centered on Colonel Miguel Mejia, callsign APOK. Across the series, Mejia is thrust into conspiracies that escalate from covert operations to global upheaval.

The books blend military realism, political intrigue, and psychological tension, creating a world where personal morality collides with massive geopolitical forces.