Christmas conveys different meanings to different people nowdays. That's not just the obvious religious connotations associated with it but the vast swathes of commercialisation that has swept all before it...Japan and China embrace it despite being steeped in Buddhism, Taoism and Shinto.
It was never like this. Christmas really started off as a Roman orgy...behind the backdrop of celebrating the winter solstice. Even when Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in 1843, the semblance of Christmas being a religious holiday was not even in the mainstream conciousness. It was an American Thomas Nast who introduced a rotund bearded Santa Claus to the world in the 1860s... and it wasn't until the 1920s that Coca Cola spread the global message of a decked out red coated "Father Christmas".
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119820996084944523.html
1995 - Holidays are Coming
Tonight, I will probably fall asleep very late over a glass of red wine counting my blessings after watching Frank Capra's "A Wonderful Life" (1946)...a truly inspirational film.
A merry Christmas to you all!
Friday 25 December 2009
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