A few years ago, I spent some time thinking about the meaning of Christmas. I am afraid I shocked my Christian neighbors when they realized I was looking for the secular meaning of Christmas, not the story of the baby in the manger. I think there is a wider, nonreligious meaning to the holiday, which I thought I would share.

Why we celebrate

Look at how we celebrate Christmas — the secular part. I don’t mean the gift-giving. Gift-giving has become less of a focus as I get older. But look at what else we do:

We decorate our houses outside and in. We send festive cards and chatty newsletters to hundreds of people. We throw parties for extended groups of friends. We set up gift exchanges. We sing carols. We play upbeat holiday music at home and in public places. We put fuzzy reindeer horns on our heads and on our cars. We wear Santa hats and loud Christmas sweaters in public.

And like the carols say, it is all an expression of goodwill to our fellow men. (Yes, I mean both he-men and women.)

People are a value

This is important.

It’s easy to get caught up in one’s own day-to-day troubles, the dire headlines, and the latest scandals. But other people are a huge value — including people we disagree with politically or keep distance from emotionally or interact with only casually or meet only transactionally on the other side of the cash register.

Living in the 21st century in the USA, we have an amazing standard of living. And we have it because of the millions of people — in our country and around the world — who are putting in a small, medium, or large effort to create values in the world. Some of these values are products or services we happily buy because they make our lives easier, or more productive, or more meaningful, or more enjoyable. Some of these values they just put out into the world, such as their funny cat videos or “how to” videos for the gadget you just purchased and can’t get to work.

The Importance of Celebration

So, I see Christmas as a time to celebrate the good in the people around you and in the world. To be grateful for the best within them and to recognize the value of that to you.

Celebration is a serious undertaking. By “celebration,” I mean a process of identifying and honoring values one has gained and/or holds and remains committed to. The values are different, depending on the person or people you are celebrating. But once you identify why the person or people matter to you, you can reflect that value back.

Walking around the neighborhood a few years ago, I realized how much I appreciated the festive mood created by people lighting up their houses. So now we light up our house — to pass on that goodwill to the newest neighbors. And also because in Florida, there’s no such thing as a white Christmas unless you put white icicle lights on your house!

This is a good time to express my gratitude to the readers of my articles. I missed connecting with you during my hiatus from writing them this year. And I appreciate that you take the time to read them.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas, as part of my campaign of promoting goodwill toward mankind.