Those Christmas lights light up the streets, may all your troubles soon be gone, those Christmas lights keep shining on

It's come and gone already. So bizarre. Maybe it's because I work in retail that I feel the intensity and preparation for Christmas that much more-- but it is insane. I feel like the preparation has been going on for months, and now, all of a sudden almost without warning it's already over. We spent days wrapping gifts, went through a dozen rolls of wrapping paper, two paychecks, loads of cheesecake and appetizers and here we are. Nada. Finito. Craziness guys.

It was good times nonetheless. We're growing up. Racha mentioned the other days how Christmas has lost it's magic, how when we were kids it was so much more incredible and so much more exciting. I don't think it is Christmas that has changed. I think it's us. I think that when we're kids everything is more fantastical.

We would spend days tearing the house apart looking for our gifts. We would nevr find them and the anticipation would kill us, but the surprise was enormous. The smiles would spread across our faces stretching from ear to ear. This year I bought my own gifts, literally, picked them out, tried them all on, put them in boxes, wrapped them up, then opened them all again. We missed mass because we were too lazy to go, church is all the way downtown, and let's face it, sleeping is the more likeable option. As kids mum and dad would force us up and got us dressed. Maybe this is what happens when you grow up.

Maybe it's not Christmas that loses its magic, but maybe its the fact that we stop believing in it. We stop believing in Santa and the stories and the hope. We lose sight of all of the things that got us excited.

Roba said that less people decorate their house these days. I don't think that's what it is, I think that twenty years ago it was the same people with their homes decorated with lights. But as kids when the seven of us hopped into dad's cab and drove around the streets looking at Christmas lights, they held this entirely separate magical entity that made those lights bigger and brighter then they were. There aren't less lights, I assure you.

It's us. It's age. It's growing up where the homes get smaller, traditions get lost, families fall apart, knowledge becomes far too vast, truth surfaces and replaces the magic.

I don't know if we can get it back. I don't know if I want it back. The magic was an illusion. Now, today, last night, is what Christmas is all about. And I know what you'll think (I didn't go to church so how could I know what Christmas is all about). Folks, let's face it, Christmas is a birthday, the birth day of Jesus, fine, but still a brithday. Birthdays are meant to be spent with family, celebrated together. And that was this holiday.

I know people who have tragically sad Christmases and it makes me appreciate the holidays even more. I've got my family, I've got my health, I've got a home and love and food and cheer. The holidays are different for everyone.

And it might have taken me a long time to figure it out, but what it eventually comes down to is that Christmas was never magic. It was all in your perception. And now, finally, my perception of the holidays is no longer clouded by stories of Santa and reindeer and hallmark poetry. It's there, clear enough to see, to finally understand.

With that said, I hope you had a Merry Christmas. And I genuinely mean it. Everyone says it to everyone else, but I wholeheartedly hope that it was merry. That you are happy, that you are with the people you love, that your bellies are full and that you took a moment to thank God for everything you've got.

It will be 2011 in just a few days, and another year will be behind us. There is so much potential in the world, so much potential for greatness but we're losing sight of them by visions fairy tales and fables.

Happy Happy Happy Holidays.