Family and Friends, Not Presents, Made for a Merry Christmas

James B. Ewers, Jr., Ed.D.

‘Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. These are lines from the classic Christmas poem by Clement Clarke Moore in 1822. You have probably heard this poem a few times recently.

The build-up to Christmas is found not only in this poem but also in gifts and gift-giving. Sales and discounts are highlighted in newspapers, and online shopping is non-stop. Adults participate in Black Friday sales, trying to get their purchases at the lowest price possible. Well, the Christmas season is over, so now, we can relax and wait for Christmas 2023 and the next round of shopping sprees that will occur.

I suspect if you are in the fourth quarter of your life like I am, you have a perspective on the Christmas that we just celebrated. Like you, as a child, I believed in all the Christmas legends and lore. I must give my parents credit for being “Christmas Ambassadors.”

Here are a few long-held memories of what the season was like for me as a child.

In my Winston-Salem, North Carolina neighborhood, we only talked about Christmas after Thanksgiving. It made for a happy time with my parents and relatives. Equally important was that we did not have school until the following Monday, which gave us additional time with friends.

I am not sure we ever discussed the naughty and nice list when I was coming of age, but can you imagine not receiving your union skates because you were naughty? No, you can’t.

My parents said that I should leave cookies and milk for Santa, and of course, I did. On Christmas morning, the cookies were gone, and Santa’s lip print was on the glass. He had been to our house.

The presents were under a real tree; my staple gifts were skates and the latest cap gun. (You must be a certain age to know what a cap gun is.) We were outside on our skates or riding bikes in the late morning and into the afternoon. This is what we did on Christmas day.

As I reached adulthood, I started to buy gifts as well. At points, it was stressful to know what to get family and friends.

As I age, I have some different perspectives on the season. Christmas is too commercial, and the emphasis is misguided, as we spend billions of dollars on gifts. Unfortunately, the big spending has overtaken the spiritual aspect of this season.

Will the inclination to spend money during the Christmas season stop? Probably not in the foreseeable future. There will have to be a totally different mindset for the economics around Christmas to change. Perhaps our mindset needs to focus on what is really important–family and friends.

I spent my Christmas season with family and friends. Joy and happiness were in great supply. I made several calls to check on people to see how they were doing. That is what we who are in the fourth quarter do. If you have older relatives, they will tell you the same thing.

The presence of people or listening to them on the phone brings me great pleasure. Human interaction fends off some illnesses and keeps the mind sharp. So, as we enter this new year, remember to reach out to those fourthquarter people in your lives, especially.

And, if you are a fourth-quarter brother or sister, remember that being in your senior years chronologically does not mean you must throw in the towel. Instead, wear your age and your wisdom proudly. Your perspective helps us to keep the reason in the season. ❏ ❏ ❏