Spirit in the lost and found

 

It is amazing how quickly the time flies as you get older. During school days time appeared to drag on and on, ensuring that term after term felt like a prison sentence until vacation was here once again. 

 

While summer break was always my favourite due to the two months of freedom of hitting the beach, trying (while failing miserably) to play lawn tennis with my best friend and beating all challengers in Mortal Kombat and GranTurismo, even as Super Mario humbled me. The Christmas vacation always felt like a special time of year where the air was crisp and fresh, the house was clean(er) and the atmosphere was one of hope and love, joy and peace.

 

Now a few years older, I wonder what has become of this Christmas feeling, because while it has waxed and waned intermittently the last few years, this time around I just have not felt it and by what is being heard on the streets, I am not the only one with this perception. 

 

Hearing Bumba’s seasonal hit ‘Why Can’t This Christmas Feeling Go on?’, just made me sing instead Faith Hill’s ‘Where are you Christmas?’ especially the lyrics, ‘Why can’t I find you? Why have you gone away?’

 

I searched for it high and low, but it was not to be found, even with all the Christmas trees in town. The lack of lights around the various districts also did not help, because only a decade ago almost every house had at least one string of lights outside of the home adding to the mix, but now these are few and far between as many persons say they simply cannot afford the lights or the high electricity bill that will come to greet them during the long dry weeks of January.

 

Was there a lack of hustle and bustle? Those stuck in the long lines of traffic would say so, but after the deluge that pelted Barbados at the end of November and taking three hours to get home from the City, which included a 45-minute wait in one spot in Bank Hall, Christmas lines just felt like a mere trifle and the crowds in town felt like a large line of window shoppers rather than those caught up in the crush of it.

 

Was it the fact that a picnic ham was now double what I paid for it seven years ago, or that the more money I spent, the less items I packed away at the cash out line? Or was it that while I heard some persons wish ‘all the best for the holidays’, most kept their greetings to themselves, while others quarrelled loudly about the inconvenience placed upon them due to the holidays?

 

Stuck in this conundrum, I found myself consulting the most important persons to get their take on where the Christmas spirit was and the children all answered that it was found in Jesus Christ.

 

What a truth that was! They smiled and laughed and pointed with glee at the decorations and festivities, joyously happy to be celebrating his birthday, while adults got annoyed over prices, lack of options and crowds. As the season winds down, let us borrow some of that much needed spirit from our children.