PART FIVE:
Christmas is all around!
Christmas never went away. It is all around and hard not to notice. Commercials start for “the perfect gift” right after Halloween.
But somehow, Thanksgiving has remained uncommercialized -- With all of the media focus on Christmas, people still, really do take a day to focus on serving others and appreciating family…. And God. Even Christmas takes a break and waits until the day after Thanksgiving to suck people back into greed and selfishness. It doesn't wait long though…. I mean, if you ever want to see what's wrong with Christmas, you only need to think about "Black Friday!"
I mean seriously!... It’s called "Black Friday!" Black magic… the black arts… black humor… black flags…. blackmail… The very name conjures images of something sinister or evil. Actually, I guess it’s a good name for Christmas’s most aggressive, selfish, greedy day of shopping.
Now Amelia, You know how much I love the magic of Christmas. I hope you have many wonderful memories of our Christmas times. But the ugliness of Christmas is so strong, it almost overpowers the good. People get so selfish, It takes such a great effort to keep Christmas about family, fun, and children. I tell the stories of Santa, and I even tell the story about the birth of Jesus… and how it’s not really his birthday… Our Christmas has always been about Magic…. It takes a lot of effort to avoid the greed and selfishness of Christmas.
Thanksgiving just isn't like that. After a few years of our family Thanksgiving, I realized how nice it was that our family gift giving holiday was over and finished before the crushing rush of Christmas holiday shopping.
For many, many years, it seemed like my father was angry at Christmas, and wanted nothing at all to do with it. For him, the Hypocrisy was unforgivable. But eventually his anger cooled. Though he never brought Christmas back into our home, he relaxed enough to enjoy visiting other family and friends at Christmas. We all love the Holiday songs-- even Papa Larry. One year, My Dad volunteered to paint several beautiful paintings of Christmas windows for a Holiday walk exhibit. It was kind of like one of those Halloween Haunted houses, only you walked through a maze of Christmas scenes, and Dad’s paintings were like looking in windows of different homes at Christmas time. They were the best part of the exhibit. So, even though your Papa Larry still likes to say “bah Humbug!” And will very happily educate you and me and EVERYONE about the “truth about Christmas”...
I think he’s made peace with it. It isn’t hypocritical to celebrate with other people, their family, and their cultural traditions. In Japan, we celebrated Japanese holidays with our Japanese friends. We have celebrated with Friends from India, and China, and Russia, and Finland, and Italy…. And Mexico… And here in America, Christmas has many many super fun traditions…. And great holiday Movies!
What my Dad learned, and what I learned from my Dad, is how not to trust Hypocrites, but also… Not to fear them. Truth is for those who want to find it. Wisdom is the result of a Journey.
The journey that Larry had to go through was frightening. He had always believed that he wasn’t very smart, and then he found himself having to “question” and challenge “Experts”, people in authority, people he was told to trust. And EVERYONE told him not to question Authority. But my Dad trusted God. And when he found the Authorities contradicting what God said, and realized that he had to choose who to trust and who to follow… He chose God. He was uncertain of what would happen…. But he knew that God (and what he found in the Bible) would never deceive or betray his trust. The Answers would come…. Sometimes it took a long time, but without fail, eventually the answers came. And from the fear, loneliness, and uncertainty, came an answer filled with peace, understanding, and love.
And what about those Hypocrites all over the world?.. How do we know who we can trust and who we can’t?
Well… what I learned from my Dad’s story,.. And from my own… is that there is a way to tell who is honest and who is not. You might say… We’ve “cracked the code!” As Dads, we hope to teach our children what we learn, in hopes that we will help them succeed and have a better life than our own. It’s “Dad Wisdom….”
And every good Holiday story should have a moral lesson or some words of wisdom… So here it goes…
Amelia, Honest people LOVE to answer questions about what they know and what they believe. So, always ask questions. And carefully observe the way the person you ask responds. It goes like this… People tell you what they want you to think, believe, and do. So ask them why they think they are correct? Why is that the best way? Why do they believe it’s true?
If they are honest in what they are telling you-- (even if they might be wrong…) they will want to answer all of your questions… in great detail. But if someone gets angry when you ask them a question-- and instead of answering, calls you names, like “racist” or “denier”-- that's probably a dishonest person and you probably shouldn't trust them. Honest people are eager to answer questions, because they recognize that understanding always makes things better. An “honest” person wants you to understand. A “dishonest” person wants you to believe what they say because of who they are…. Period! Don’t ask Questions!!
An honest person wants to answer every question, and then hopes you'll have new questions tomorrow…. That's a person you can trust.
When Larry asked those questions to the priests and preachers, because they couldn’t give him an honest answer, they got angry with him-- tried to make him think he was wrong to doubt them… If you watch, you’ll see the same thing from politicians on the news, and even your teachers, sometimes… and friends… sometimes….
Sometimes it seems you can’t trust anyone!
But trust is so important. So try this!! This works!!!
By asking questions-- and listening to the answers… and evaluating how people answer-- Or don’t-- you can tell who can be trusted and who should not be trusted. Good people want to tell you everything. Good things want to be found.
Okay… enough “Dad wisdom!…”
My dearest Amelia… I hope this story, and some of our family history, inspires you to ask questions. Take time to Listen to the stories of your family history. Understanding who your family is, will help you know who you are. Think about the roots of a tree… without them, a tree has no strength. It will fall over if the wind blows, or someone pushes it. A tree is only as strong as its roots are deep… But to learn about the tree's roots… you have to dig a little.
“Raindrops on Roses…. And whiskers on Kittens…
Bright Copper Kettles… and warm woolen mittens…
Brown Paper packages, tied up with strings…
These are a few of my favorite things.”
…and telling you stories… and singing you songs… and movies, and adventures, and karaoke parties…
….and being your Dad.
These are my most favorite things.
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