A LITTLE CHRISTMAS MAGIC

When at the height of the Cold War NORAD began tracking Santa Clause (https://goo.gl/gtACa) it was, in its commanding officer’s words, indeed, “the magic of Christmas” (https://goo.gl/XynVmL).

Irrespective of your age, Christmas tends to be special because in our minds it’s an opportunity to be a little more introspective (https://goo.gl/HR3E6D) and even though we may agonize over gifts to buy the best ones to give are, still, experiences: https://goo.gl/FBMD6i.

Unsurprisingly given the commercial build up that takes place each year, Christmas has a deep psychological impact on us: https://goo.gl/4AuAUT and is intimately tied to our wellbeing (https://goo.gl/JqOnUK). Giving presents is always an act that reveals a little about ourselves: https://goo.gl/fjr3Wv and the family-orientated nature of Christmas Day itself is not, as you might have guessed, without some of its very special, family-relationship tinged minefields: https://goo.gl/cMJ2Ce.

As Justin Smith in a touching and funny TED Talk says, Christmas is a challenge that frequently starts all sorts of community traditions that bring people together and bring the best out from inside them: https://goo.gl/JplG53.  And it’s indeed in that ability to bring people together in a framework (https://goo.gl/OrPzSP) that primes them (https://goo.gl/DYRB5C) to do something good that the magic of Christmas really happens.

Its power to bring about unexpected results in the most hopeless of cases (https://goo.gl/7w0BI8) shows that inherently we all want to believe in the good that can arise from people making contact with each other (https://goo.gl/J1j0dw). One of the best known of these instances perhaps happened at the height of what in retrospect was sheer madness: the trench warfare of WWI (https://goo.gl/WHvYOz). The story behind it is also enlightening, particularly in how the human factor, the ability of one person to reach out to another, as a person, was seen as a threat by those in power: https://goo.gl/DcBZxL who made sure it could never happen that way again (https://goo.gl/kuN0cL).

The Christmas traditions we take for granted today were not always so, particularly during the Victorian era with its Puritan overtones. It took Charles Dickens, working out his own childhood demons to change that forever: https://goo.gl/QBPFFJ. Christmas is part of our shared narratives which, in turn go on to inform our shared sense of values: https://goo.gl/VRbrO, the things that make us special to each other and human to ourselves.

Divorced of religious connotations stripped of its commercial message of consumerism Christmas is still magical. It brings people together, it shapes our beliefs and guides our expectations. Subconsciously, this time of the year features deep within our heart of hearts and, despite it being a holiday, there are still many people who spend it working: https://goo.gl/uem8IQ, providing essential services for those who need them (https://goo.gl/OOOTyu).

Of course, the real magic of this day lies in its message of hope. Hope that the togetherness it brings and the sense of solidarity it creates last more than just a day and are actually indicative of something much deeper and way more real that spells for us, as a species, the hope that the future awaiting us is way better than the transient problems of the present would have us believe.

It is Christmas Day of course so mince pies (https://goo.gl/97rKOv) are in order. Chocolate donuts, of course, and croissants and cookies and chocolate cake too followed by endless rivers of filtered coffee. Have an awesome Sunday, wherever you are. 

Coutesy Of David Amerland