I love the idea of Christmas Spirit, but I'll be the first to admit that I don't know what the term actually means. It's probably one of those things for which we have the standard kind of answer--"it means something different for everyone"--but it would be nice if we could define it and understand it clearly. Not because I'm the type of person who needs and wants to have everything catalogued and defined according to a certain set of criteria, but because it seems to be such a positive concept, one that can bring us true joy if we knew how to access it, or harness it, or adopt it. After all, the Spirit of Christmas would have to include a love of giving, and it would have to include a love for virtually everyone. It would exclude everything like greed and selfishness, and it wouldn't have anything to do with judgment or bias. I think that if I want to go out and model the Spirit of Christmas, I would have kind words for everyone I met, and I would be as generous as I possibly could be, given my means. I wouldn't treat others with harshness, and I wouldn't make them feel that I didn't approve of them for any reason. If I were to model Christmas Spirit, I would listen carefully when others talked, and I would encourage them as much as I could. I would be inclusive rather than exclusive, encouraging rather than discouraging, and loving rather than hateful. I would show gratitude often, and I would take gracefully from those who wished to give to me, while giving wholeheartedly to those who were willing to take from me. The Christmas Spirit is a spirit that we can adopt for every day of our lives if we choose to do so, and I hope that one day, I'll regularly be treating others as kindly in May or August as I do in December. The Spirit I share is my choice, after all, and I'd like it to be a caring, loving, compassionate spirit all the time.
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