The Spirit of Christmas

Having spent the last few weeks telling people that it doesn't feel like Christmas time is here, I've spent quite a bit of time asking myself what it is that makes Christmas time what we think it is. Is it time with family? Is it the act of buying gifts for others? Is it knowing that gifts are coming for you? As my good friend Dr. Seuss once wrote, "What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!" So, I've been thinking about what that little bit more is. What is it that I have been missing out on this year that makes it feel like Christmas? 

Well, let's begin with the things that usually come with Christmas. When we think of Christmas we often imagine the presents that sit under a stunningly lit tree, a layer of freshly fallen snow on the ground, and time to spend with our families. Being out at school for the holidays has taken out at least one of those, but that shouldn't be stopping me from feeling the Christmas Spirit, should it? So I determined that as Dr. Seuss says, maybe Christmas means a little bit more. What could it be though? Strangely enough, I think I found my answer while working in a cafeteria dish room. To be clear, my answer did not come in the food that was served or in staring at the dishes that were washed. Instead my answer came after I walked out the back door to take out the trash. Yes, you read that right, I was taking out the trash when I found my answer about the Christmas Spirit. But it was not the trash either that taught me of the Christmas Spirit. The back door of the cafeteria faces the mountains, and that is where my answer came from. 

Today was a pretty dreary day to be honest. It snowed this morning, but around noon it became just a cloudy day. The day drew on slowly, and cleared up a little bit as evening drew on. It was around that time that I went to take out the trash. When I opened up the back door I looked up to the mountains and saw the reflection of the sunset on the snow covering the mountains. The view was spectacular, and led me to think about what the Christmas Spirit is all about. It's not about the presents we receive, or the snow outside, and it's really not so much about the time spent with others. What I have found is that the Christmas Spirit is finding the beauty in everything, in each passing day, in the spirit of giving, in the Christmas time itself. What I have missed this year is finding the joys of the season, and looking for beauty in everything around me. I let myself get caught up in finals for school and thinking that it would feel like Christmas if I were home. However, that is not what Christmas is. Christmas is the beauty of the season. The Spirit of Christmas is found in everything around us.