'Tis the season!

It's the holiday season.  It's a time to be giving, loving, joyous.  It's a time to spend with friends and family.  There's not really much downside to the holidays, unless you like checking your bank account after purchasing all those thoughtful gifts.

For some, the holidays aren't a time to be joyful at all.  It's a time for ostracism.  Yeah, you guessed it, that was me.   JW's aren't allowed to celebrate any holidays.  No Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, etc.   Imagine yourself in a scenario me and many others have had to experience.  You're a 7 year old at school.  You've just come back from your Christmas vacation.  You get into school and everybody is buzzing.    "What did you get this year?"  "What did you do for Christmas?"  Everybody talks about all the cool presents they got and the different family traditions they do.  It all sounds so awesome.  Frankly, for kids, it is totally awesome.  Unless you were one of us.  "You don't celebrate Christmas!?" This was unheard of.  Sometimes they would feel bad for me.  Other times they would make fun of me. 

Talk about feeling left out.  The worst part is others would want to include me in on the fun they were having.  It wasn't like the kid in high school who never got invited to parties.  I had no choice.  I couldn't join in.  Oh that Christmas is such an evil holiday.  Those wicked people all giving each other gifts and spending time with one another.  They should be ashamed of themselves.  Like any other thing that's fun, they pin their refusal to allow participation on "pagan roots".  Yeah, maybe it does have what could be considered pagan origins.  Is the purpose of the Christmas season today to worship false God's?  Obviously not.  Meanings change. Can't we just accept a nice time of the year without tearing it apart to find every little thing wrong with it.

Several other holidays we cannot enjoy are Halloween, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day and Thanksgiving.  The list goes on and on.  All are given a false religious meaning.  You might look at all those things as innocent and something that people should want to celebrate.  It's all about maintaining control.  

This holiday season, enjoy yourselves!  Give your heart out and spend time with your family.  It's a great time of year.