From Over the Hill: December by Peter Bloch-Hansen blochhansenpeter@gmail.com Scholars say Jesus was born between 6 and 4 BC, in spring or autumn, but definitely not in December. So why Christmas in December, the darkest
Solstice celebrations were festivals of hope connected with the return of sunlight, warmth and fertility. But maybe, you want the Christ Mass to be a thoroughly Christian celebration and not any those nasty pagan parties. So again, it doesn’t much matter, since almost nobody remembers or celebrates the solstice anyway – or will admit it. So what does matter? Depends whom you ask. Retail store owners and toy company executives will report that December accounts for about half their yearly sales. Credit card companies will rhapsodize about sky-high balances. Turkey farmers will report on the careful calculations and months-long planning it takes to ensure Christmas dinner tables won’t lack for drumsticks. Certainly, Christmas presents massive opportunities for lots of people, which does matter...though maybe we actually could get along just fine without a lot of that? People talk about the joy of the season, the uplifting spirit of the holidays – though in some circles you’re not allowed to call it ‘the Christmas season’, which is what it is, since Christmas is the whole reason for the holiday in the first place. Wanna argue about it? I don’t care and why? Because for all their various reasons, people use this holiday to connect with people they care about, a beautiful spirit and the one we should concentrate on. To say that celebrating Christmas excludes people who don’t celebrate it is just silly because a festival that inspires that spirit of connecting, if it means anything, should inspire us to connect-- in whatever ways -- with everyone all the time, and to be happy for the joy that others find in their own festivals. Now, to be fair, the whole wooplah of the Christmas season can seem to exclude others but why? It isn’t the cozy family dinners or the church services (wonderful music), or the crèches and lit up trees (poor doomed things). It’s those December sales figures, credit card balances and all the rest, that have made this lovely, intimate celebration such an overblown, over hyped, farcical corruption of its original intent. That said, a truth remains, more felt than spoken, a truth of connection: so, as we pass through these wintry December days, please consider that with all the different ways and times we celebrate what’s highest, most deeply important to us, we’re all, fundamentally, celebrating the same thing. So, in that spirit, Merry Christmas, everyone!
month? Nobody’s sure, but since for Christians, the resurrection is the important thing, I’m not sure it matters. But getting back to the darkness thing, December does seem a great month for an all-out, rip-roarin’, root’n, toot’n celebration! Certainly the Romans thought so; they had two -- Sol Invictus and Saturnalia. Now, the shortest daylight of the year is the winter solstice, December 2ist, not the 25th.
The Community Recycling Centre winter hours are Wednesdays from 8am to 4:30pm and on Saturdays from 8am to 3pm. Community Recycling Centre will be closed Wednesday, December 25th. HOLIDAY WASTE COLLECTION SCHEDULE Regular Collection Day Rescheduled Collection Day Wednesday December 25 2024 Thursday December 26 2024 Thursday December 26 2024 Friday December 27 2024 Friday December 27 2024 Saturday December 28 2024 Wednesday January 1 2025 Thursday January 2 2025 Thursday January 2 2025 Friday January 3 2025 Friday January 3 2025 Saturday January 4 2025 Natural Christmas Trees can be brought to the Community Recycling Centre for free. Household Hazardous Waste is only accepted Wednesdays from 10 am – 2 pm and on Saturdays from 8 am – 3 pm. For more information regarding waste management, please contact the City of St. Thomas Environmental Services Department at 330 South Edgeware Road, St. Thomas Ontario 519-631-1680 ext. 4258 www.stthomas.ca
Page 12 Boomers and Beyond – Elgin • December 2024
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