LEND ME YOUR EAR: ALL IN THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

Only two more days, and the day we call Christmas will make its official appearance. No one really knows when Christ was born, and the first recorded observance of His birth was in the year 98 A.D. But it was not until the year 340 A.D. that Dec. 25, the first day of the Jewish Festival of Lights, was established as official by Pope Julius of the Roman Catholic Church.

Christians also observe Advent, the Coming of Christ, with special church services and the lighting of candles to prepare for the Coming. Twelve days of celebration follow, ending with Epiphany, meaning the divine manifestation of Christ as King. But the old English song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas", along with a host of other carols both religious and secular, continues to be a favorite of people the world over regardless of creed or lack of religious belief. Christmas is a time for everyone to make merry and express joy to the world and love of life and living.

In America, the season never ends and is never far from our thoughts because we are a nation of givers. Many forward-looking souls combine Christmas shopping with vacation travel, whatever the season. Our department stores and fashion shops hold Christmas-in-July sales, and thrifty buyers flock to the stores on Dec. 26 to get next year's Christmas cards at half-price. Though the commercialization of Christ's birth has long been a source of anguish to the devout, we forget that it is also the source of much joy, and that business and industry are essential to our daily needs and certainly to the provisions for our sacred celebration.

At this writing, hearts and minds and store windows all across the land are filled with the magic of Christmas, and never in my memory, which spans several generations, has the spirit of the season been so alive in Cape Girardeau as now. Tours of lights have taken grateful passengers to marvel at outdoor nativity scenes at city parks and churches, brilliantly-lighted business and residential areas, museums, art exhibits, the delightful ice show at Plaza Galleria, and the historic sites of downtown Cape. Apologies to any we may have omitted. We read, but we don't travel.

On TV, we see young people doing commercials for a fast food restaurant, singing carols in joyful harmony instead of knocking each other out to get the first pizza or sandwich and Coke. High school and college students have put hard rock and heavy metal on hold in favor of Christmas concerts and musicals. Children as well as adults are sharing what they have to help make Christmas brighter for the underprivileged. All this in the spirit of love, which is the real essence of Christmas.

Our public library, our best source for academic learning outside the classroom, is contributing vastly to the season with an interfaith series depicting Christian, Jewish, even the Afro-American Quanza, a seven-day cultural celebration for accenting traditional human values much like our own.

What a wealth of learning the Christmas season brings! School children are encouraged to enter drawing and writing contests, some even write scripts to act out and perform for others. Without Christmas, many young people would miss out on basic, long-revered classics. Handel's "Messiah", with the seasonal revival of the magnificent Hallelujah Chorus; "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens; "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by the late, beloved Dr. Seuss, these are the first to enter our minds after the priceless story of the birth of Jesus.

Of the Christmas writing that has come our way this holy season, the most endearing, for me, was published in our church newsletter around Thanksgiving time. The author, Esther Hartman, who teaches pre-kindergarten at Trinity Lutheran School, wrote of a time when she longed for a bride doll and doll house, though she knew money was tight in the parsonage. Her father was a minister, and there were other children.

Early Christmas morning, Esther and her four brothers gathered around the parsonage tree with their parents, to open their gifts. There, under the tree, stood her favorite doll, exquisite in bridal dress. A big box also bore her name. Inside she found a beautiful four-room doll house, replete with furniture hand-carved by her father, and tasteful furnishings made by her mother.

Wrote Esther: "The love that came with those gifts that Christmas was a symbol of the love that God our Heavenly Father sent us in the gift of His Son that first Christmas. Of all the presents given and received in a lifetime of Christmas we need to remind our families and friends of the real gift of the season Jesus."