Doug's 2018 Christmas Greeting

The Greatest Time Machine
 
I think Christmas is one of the greatest time machines.  What other season or holiday is so infused with precious memories and tradition, and one that is a time in which our emotional bearings are set on hopes of peace and good will throughout our own circles as well as the world?  Christmas is intrinsic of countless elements in the way of sights and sounds that treat each of our senses, and in turn invoke memories and thoughts of Christmases past.

It could be the scent of a pine or spruce tree, or the aroma of turkey roasting in the oven.  A favourite Christmas melody playing over the radio, or the sound of sleigh bells, or perhaps catching “A Charlie Brown Christmas” or “It’s a Wonderful Life” on television is what does it for you!  Christmas has the power to whisk each of us back to a time we so longingly and vividly recall.

Notwithstanding the reality that as children we were excited to receive that shiny new bike or something from Santa we knew we just had to find under the tree, have you ever noticed that these memories always centre around family, friends and the spirit of the season?  Such recollections amount to feelings of happiness and contentment which are not borne out of material gain but are more reflective of the times we have spent together with family and friends!  I wonder if this isn’t testament to the reality behind something of a movement that has been around for nearly ten years referred to as a minimalist lifestyle.  Those who adhere to this practice intentionally choose to declutter their lives of excessive material ownership, fighting the modern culture which suggests the good life is achieved through the accumulation of possessions and that happiness can be purchased at a department store.  This appears to result in a world that is hurried and stressed as we seek out abundance and what is supposedly bigger and better.  Some are finding that stepping off what has been referred to as the ‘treadmill’ of consumerism discover a freedom from the never-ending and all-consuming ‘passion to possess’.  Like the minimalist lifestyle, the Christmas season teaches us to find true happiness through relationships, personal experiences and through caring for our body and soul.

Our wish for you this season is that you do find peace within and around you and your family, that you take the time to enjoy each other, that you discover a less stressful lifestyle rather than that of the great race of consumerism.  We hope that you will keep in mind that when we do look back on these days, we will remember with fondness the people in our lives and not the possessions we acquired or the amount of money in our chequebooks!
 
To you and yours, a very Merry Christmas
& A Happy, Healthy New Year in 2019!
 
Doug & Josey!