Christmas time blues

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...Jack Frost nipping at your nose...”

One Christmas, a parent decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank-you note duties. As a result, their grandmother never received any acknowledgment for the generous checks she had given.

Things became different the year after however.

“The children came over in person to thank me,” the Grandma told a friend triumphantly.

“How wonderful!” the friend exclaimed. “What do you think caused the change in behavior?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” the grandmother replied. “This year I didn’t sign the checks.” 

Meanwhile, an old woman was on her deathbed giving some last-minute instructions to her long-time friend.

The dying woman said, “Mila, I know my time is up. I want you to do everything I say. The day I die, do not bury me. Burn me. I want a cremation.”

“But why?” asked Mila, her old-time friend.

The old woman said, “Cremate me, and then gather my ashes, and spread it over the grounds of SM Mega Mall.”

Puzzled, Mila said, “This is a very strange request. I don’t understand.”

“Mila, I miss my children so much,” the old woman explained. “After my cremation, gather all of my ashes and spread it all across the shopping mall. That way I can be assured that my children would at least visit once a week.”

Christmas time may be a picture of celebration and joviality, but it could be pretty lonely for old folks whose relatives no longer visit.

A businessman complained, “Banks never seem to get totally into the holiday spirit. My bank sent me a card that said, “Have a Happy Holidays. If You Are Already Having A Happy Holiday, Please Disregard This Notice.”

Christmas is really a strange time of year. People celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace by buying toy rockets, submarines, artillery and hand grenades for their children. And then there are certain people who reach heights of depression when Christmas time comes, because of memories – many painful ones.

You see, the occasion may be important, but never as important as relationships. Relationships are important no matter what day of the year it is. Take this year’s occasion to remember your loved ones.

Thomas Carlyle had married his secretary, whom he dearly loved. But thoughtless and absorbed in his own interests and activities, he treated his wife as if she were still his employee.

His wife became stricken with cancer and was confined to bed for a long time before she died. After her funeral, Carlyle went back to his empty house. Disconsolate and grieving, he wandered around downstairs thinking about the woman he had loved. After a while he went upstairs to her room and sat down in the chair beside the bed on which she had been lying for months. He realized with painful regret that he had not sat there very often during her long illness.

He noticed her diary then. While she was alive, he never would have read it, but now that she was gone, he felt free to pick it up and thumb through its pages. One entry caught his eye. “Yesterday,” the entry went, “”He spent an hour with me. And it was like being in heaven. I love him so much.” He turned a few more pages and read, “I listened all day to hear his steps in the hallway. And now it’s late. I guess he won’t come to see me.”

Carlyle read a few more entries, and then threw the book on the floor and rushed out through the rain, back to the cemetery. He fell on his wife’s grave in the mud, sobbing, “If only I had known ... if only I had known!”

History teaches us lessons, some painful, so we can learn.

Make sure you know what to spend this Christmas. Spend time with your loved ones. Don’t just spend money on gifts.

Christ gave Himself to us, never forget that.

(You can now receive daily inspirational quotes and thoughts from me. Text “Inspire” to 288 for Smart or Sun subscribers, and 2889 for Globe subscribers. Visit facebook.com/franciskong 2 for more details.)