On the way to Sunday .... The Spirit of Christmas Present

It was a long night, if it were only a night; but Scrooge had his doubts of this, because the Christmas Holidays appeared to be condensed into the space of time they passed together. It was strange, too, that while Scrooge remained unaltered in his outward form, the Ghost grew older, clearly older. Scrooge had observed this change, but never spoke of it, until they left a children's Twelfth Night party, when, looking at the Spirit as they stood together in an open place, he noticed that its hair was grey.

"Are spirits' lives so short?" asked Scrooge.

"My life upon this globe, is very brief," replied the Ghost. "It ends to-night."

"To-night!" cried Scrooge.

"To-night at midnight. Hark! The time is drawing near."
                                                                                    excerpt from A Christmas Carol: Stave 3

The story A Christmas Carol is the type of story that is so ingrained in our culture that it is just assumed that you know the story.  I must admit that I have watched too many productions to count of the story on both stage and screen and yet I never read the story until now with apologies to all of my English Literature teachers of the past whom I faked my way through any assigned readings.

So, I must say that I was stuck by the sadness of the words of the ghost of Christmas present:

                  "My life upon this globe, is very brief," replied the Ghost. "It ends to-night." 

Christmas is that wonderful time of the year when everyone is more kind - more generous. Unfortunately, like the ghost states, it all seems to abruptly end at midnight.  Just ask any store clerk working at a return desk the day after Christmas and they will tell you the spirit of Christmas is dead.

What happens? Why does the spirit die?

Perhaps more important, does the spirit have to die?

If in fact the Spirit of Christmas lives in each of us, then it is up to each of us to keep it alive.

What will you do in the days, weeks, and year ahead to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive and well?

See you Sunday ...