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	A Whole Lot Of Nothing
	All around us in this "silly season" we see flashing lights and hear cheery songs such as "Jingle Bells" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" giving us false hope because this hype is all just transient and temporary. In fact it is fully based on lies and deception, yet many want to believe these lies as they have nothing else to put their faith and trust in. Yearly re-runs trying to capture what everyone desires — time with extended family members with everybody getting along nicely — perhaps this year there will be no fighting for a change and people will not let their tongues wag loosely after a few beers or champers? Rather naïvely some of us were always optimistic. The thing is it rarely happens the way we want it to. Right now my senses are filled with a song "Run, Run Rudolph" which is very upbeat and playing quite loudly in the local McDonalds at Nuriootpa (Nuri to the natives, pronounced Noori). A couple of minutes later, we have an older track playing "It is the Happiest Season of All…it's the most wonderful time of the year" from a crooner type voice with hints of Bing Crosby or similar. The older classics are expertly done and designed to get into our ears and stay there, at least for the rest of the day, which is far too long for me. Unexpectedly it is quite an enjoyable experience but that is precisely why these songs are played every year to get people in the mood for fun, shopping, spending, and buying gifts whether they can afford to or not. Just have fun and forget the cost is what the message is coming over loud and clear to me; almost like "eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die". Hmmm…where have I heard that before? This idiom suggests enjoying life to the max (maximum) while one can without any care for the future because of the erroneous belief that there is no life after death. Unwise actually and even quite foolish. Sitting here in Maccas waiting for my husband to finish I.T. work across the road, it is quite convenient for the rest rooms, a table, coffee, and time to write. Reading was a high expectation but it has been abandoned for quiet time at home later on. Presently Elvis is singing his heart out — something about being satisfied in a jumbled mix of frenzied instruments, which ordinarily would be annoying but somehow find it easier to block out his music more than the xmas jingles. Interesting that there is so much power in these silly season songs. On the other end of the spectrum never mind that our news is filled with terrible crimes, stabbings, murders, suicides, parcel stealing from letterboxes and front doors, juvenile robberies, car theft and much more. How can we really accept that this is the most wonderful time of year when so many are suffering from various consequences of poor life choices and some situations outside of their control? Homelessness is devastating and the numbers are climbing even among mums and dads who have more than one job which just does not make any sense to me. The world is sick and it needs help, to put it plain and simply. Comparison between reality and fantasy are poles apart and seem rather sad and tragic that some people keep repeating mistakes over and over again without learning. For the vast majority of my life I really loved xmas, the excitement as a child wondering if I would get what I wanted, certainly not what I needed, was a very strong pull. The year I received a sensible navy blue umbrella (for walking between school and home in wet old Melbourne) instead of a guitar was the strongest memory of disappointment. Despite parents showing me the snazzy feature of pressing a button on the handle to rapidly shoot out the umbrella back when this was a new thing, nothing could console me and I wasn't having any of it. Crying in front of the whole family present was not even a deterrent; sadly no trace of guilt or shame. Believing what I was told that father xmas is real was just more lies and deceit that greatly bothered me until I eventually found out he was not real. We can see that children are lied to and set up for unrealistic expectations yet adults repeatedly perpetuate and break one of the 10 Commandments every year when they pretend the jolly old fat man dressed in red will come down the chimney to deliver toys and stuff for the whole family. Add insult to injury by placing out a glass of milk and slice of iced fruit cake. Nowadays carrots are added for the reindeer. The last year I kept this pagan day was in 2005. 2006 I was present physically but hated every minute of the day seeing it for the first time for what it actually is in all its revealed evil ugliness — full of lies, unclean foods, and darkness once unwrapped. Everyone else was outside smoking cigarettes and fouling the air, eating BBQ prawns (never liked this stuff anyway) and giving cheap junky gifts but happy to receive quality items. The insincere pretend fakeness was palpable. Shouldn't have gone to the family lunch but they put the pressure on with guilt trips as plans had already been made the month prior, except I had no idea God would call me out of the world. My heart was definitely not in this pagan practice even though baptism would come a few weeks later. The moment God called me I was all in and have never looked back as they say. God gave me such bright light and truth on the day of my calling that this has more than made up many times over for all the supposedly well-intentioned lies and deception from family. If you find the festival of xmas depressing or that it falls way short of what you experience, it may very well be time to examine why you still keep the 25th of December like the vast majority of the world does. Would you like to find out real facts from history and the Bible that Jesus wasn't even born on this day? That was a real eye opener for me. Here is a link below to a balanced sermon based on God given truth. Xmas is a whole lot of fluff and glitter which translates to a whole lot of nothing, nothing that is lasting and valuable. It is indeed a great blessing from God to be free from all the pressures, expectations, trappings, and lies associated with pagan worship that we were taught as children.  https://www.ucg.org/sermons/how-to-handle-christmas