I worked almost all day this Christmas. And I’m unashamed.
Why? Because, to me, Christmas is no different than any other day.
If I want to buy someone a gift, I buy it and give it to them. If I want to enjoy my family, I visit or call them. If I want to celebrate Jesus, I close my eyes and pray.
I don’t need a special day. The opposite is also true.
If no one I know needs anything, I don’t buy them stupid junk. If I’m sick of my family, I stay away from them. If I don’t like your church for most of the year, don’t expect me to attend on Christmas.
Why? Because it’s my life, and I can do whatever I want with it.
To some, this might sound selfish or weird. Although if you really think about it, I think you’ll find it makes sense.
Each morning, you make a choice: are you going to seize the day or not? Are you going to take charge of your life, or are you going to let others tell you what to do?
Personally, I’ve found the first choice leads to happiness. The second leads to misery. It’s even true on Christmas.
My mother spent all morning preparing Christmas dinner. She hates to cook, and by mid-afternoon, she was highly agitated and regretted the whole thing. Another friend went to see all of her relatives, but after the initial “holiday cheer,” they spent several hours talking about their problems and she went home depressed.
As for me, I worked all day, and I’m happy as a clam.
It’s not because I’m a workaholic. It’s because my work means something to me.
Right now, researchers need somewhere around $30 million to have a good shot at finding a treatment for my disease. If I had it, I would give it to them, but I don’t. So I’ll keep working until I do.
My real estate portfolio is hurting like everyone else’s right now. If nothing changes, it may not be able to provide for me next year. So I’m working on diversifying my income.
A nurse that’s been with me for 14 years is thinking about retiring next year. He deserves a six-figure retirement bonus, but I can’t afford it right now. So I’ll work until I can.
Could I ignore all of these things for a day? Sure… but why?
Finding a treatment for my fatal disease, protecting my income, and rewarding the best nurse in the world for 14 years of service just seems more important than buying gifts for people that don’t need them, spending time with family that I have nothing in common with, and celebrating the birth of Jesus on the wrong day of the year.
To me, a day spent in the pursuit of money is infinitely more meaningful than any of the stuff that happens on Christmas.
But then again, maybe I’m just weird.
December 26th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
You said what I’ve been trying to articulate for years. Bravo.
December 26th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
I admire the fact that you are comfortable doing what feels good to you Jon. However, I have to say that I love holidays. I am the opposite. I cherish special days because they serve as such good reminders of what is really important. Not that I always need the reminder, but it’s nice to feel that spirit all around.
December 26th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Shama - Thanks for commenting. I’m glad you enjoy the holidays, and I wouldn’t try to dissuade you from it. The reason I wrote this post is to encourage people to live consciously, even on the holidays. It sounds like celebrating Christmas is a conscious choice for you, and I think that’s great. Hope you enjoyed it.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Jon, I found this very interesting. I’m with Shama in that I consciously choose to celebrate Christmas, but I can see your point. If you made a similar post about New Year’s, I would totally agree.
My blog is less than a month old and it’s not really up and running yet, but I wrote a post titled “Why I Hate Christmas” regarding the excessive commercialization of this holiday, or our obsession with “buying stupid junk,” as you might put it. My link goes directly to this post.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Have you been reading the Gene Simmons book? Sex, Money, Kiss! Its great to see people do what makes them happy!
December 28th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
While I do love some aspects of Christmas, most of it has become such a ridiculous display of commercialism!
In a recent article in the NY Times, Maureen Dowd expresses a similar sentiment, and my favorite part is the last paragraph:
“Are you willing … to own, that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life; to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness … to make a grave for your ugly thoughts and a garden for your kindly feelings …? Then you can keep Christmas.—
See the entire article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/opinion/26dowd.html?em&ex=1198904400&en=487072b8110b865a&ei=5087%0A
December 30th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
Jon,
Nice insight into the inner-workings of your head. I was expecting a same-old, same-old rant on the commercialization on Christmas. I appreciated your thoughts on looking out for your nurse.
I talked to Kathie Lee Gifford not that long ago (formerly of Regis and Kathy Lee) and she mentioned how her family finds a family that’s struggling and they spend the money that they used to spend on useless junk helping that family. I think if more of us directed our energy on doing some good of the world instead of simply shopping our brains out and collecting stuff we don’t need, there would be more joy in Christmas. Of course, it’s still there if you want to find it.
January 1st, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Your post reminds me of a book chapter that I read where a clergyman redefined what “prayer” meant to him. Instead of it being a standard “get on your knees and pray thing”, he regarded prayer as any time where an activity (reading, writing, meditating, whatever) provided him with a link to his inner spirituality.
Interesting parallel.
January 3rd, 2008 at 10:09 am
“To me, a day spent in the pursuit of money is infinitely more meaningful than any of the stuff that happens on Christmas.”
More Than a hundred years ago, Charles Dickens wrote a response to your blog entry - How true it is today!
“There are many things from which I might have derived good by which I have not profited, I dare say,” returned the nephew, “Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas-time, when it has come round-apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that-as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
……
“Business!” cried the Ghost [of Marley], wringing his hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!” (Stave One)