Keep the Christmas Candles Lit ’til Jan 6

December 29, day five of the twelve days of Christmas: yes the much-heralded five golden rings make their debut on the list that keeps on giving and spending. In a world where the shopping-fueled frenetic lead-up to the 25th seems to have replaced the celebration itself as the reason for the season, is attempting to keep the party going like flogging a dead reindeer? Is keeping the spirit moving until January 6, Twelfth Night, The Feast of The Epiphany a noble pursuit for the truth or does it sound like somebody at that big eastern syndicate is looking for another bite at the Swiss Colony brand almond-covered processed cheese ball?

Look, we can't even decide what to be upset about at this holiday. Are we incensed we're not allowed to say Merry Christmas in the marketplace, or are we complaining about how everything sacred about the holiday has been wrung out by the ringing of cash registers? My inner spirit says it's impossible to be hot-and-bothered about both and yet there are those who pull it off year-after-year. It's just like some folks to always be mad about something, and these cyclic, convenient controversies make it easy to jump on the bloviating bandwagon.

Here's a better idea. Let's take the things that are good about the holiday and KEEP GOING. At least until January 6th. And there's a lot of good we can use to keep the momentum going:

--The sacred, commemorating Christ's birth, the real reason for the season. We often forget this is the start of something bigger: Easter is the real reason for all Christian seasons after all - not the finish or means to the end.

The recent resurgence in Star Wars mania has led me to an obligatory reference. Christmas is "A New Hope" while the Resurrection is the real "Return." (Sorry I couldn't resist. I'm not the first. And The Empire Strikes Back against the excesses of Carnival and Mardi Gras....okay, I'll stop.)

--The profane. Yes, all the tinsel, the music, the commercialism are not the affronts we have been led to believe, Charlie Brown's fifty-year search for meaning notwithstanding. We allow the creative types in our world make a big deal about all the important events in life. A special mention goes to the ladies who make it all just lovely and a big production. (Face it guys, if it were up to us the garland would hang itself while we watch football, and not just at Christmas. It's not dudes who are driving the frenzy for the average wedding to reach six figures.) In a world which values outward signs, big expressions of one's true feelings on any given subject, the brou-ha-ha of frou frou that is the holiday season, turning our lives inside out to accommodate this one day is a testament of just how much the celebration of Christ's birth means to everything in our lives. And as Jesus himself said, "he that is not against you, is for you." (Mark 9:40)

--The days off. Come on, you aren't exactly keeping up productivity in the last week of the year, are you?

So I say let it go all the way to January 6. Continue the love, the happiness, the charity and the cheer we're supposed to show each other throughout the year.