Reasons For Celebration

I do not celebrate this day for the right reasons, not for the one reason after which the day is named. But still I celebrate.

I celebrate a hug and a kiss from my wife.
I celebrate a smile and a hug from my son.
I celebrate the sound of music from children learning to play.
I celebrate the sound of saxophones in a big jazz band.

I celebrate the memory of a Michigan boy in Iowa long ago.
I celebrate the girl he married from Newfoundland.
I celebrate their children.
I celebrate their grandchildren.
I celebrate family gatherings where I learned honesty, where I learned humility, where I learned happiness, where I learned love.

I celebrate memories of crackling fires in a clearing in the woods.
I celebrate the smell of pine needles on the sand in the sun.
I celebrate canoe paddles slipping thru the glass-still water.
I celebrate red winged blackbirds in the cattails by the water's edge.
I celebrate sunsets turning the blue sky pink.
I celebrate shadows that gather beneath the Hemlock trees.
I celebrate the twinkle of starlight at night.
I celebrate the coming of another day.

I celebrate all these things and the force that makes them move. And even though these things are not the right things in the minds of some, and even though celebrating them brands me as a heathen or an infidel, even though mine are the wrong reasons, I celebrate nonetheless.

Merry Christmas.

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