Our giving spirit shouldn't end on Christmas Day

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Next week is the big celebration many of us have been waiting for. Merry Christmas!

This year, I’m trying to properly prepare myself for the holiday. I’m trying to remember that Christmas is really the beginning of the celebration we’ve been waiting and preparing for. It’s not the endpoint of a long series of holiday parties, shopping, eating and drinking. The traditional 12 days of Christmas we hear about in songs of yesteryear, and the celebration by many Orthodox Christians of the Feast of the Epiphany — the visit by the wise men weeks later — are reminders that the commemoration really begins in earnest with the celebration of the birth of the baby Jesus.

Christians believe that Jesus is humankind’s savior. Regardless of your religious beliefs, however, Jesus is one of the most important figures in human history. His message of love and forgiveness truly has transformed the world, and has the power to further transform it.

Peace on earth and good will toward all is an ideal worth aspiring to. If only we could figure out how to use it to stop all the killing (often in religion’s name), if we could all work to treat one another as equals, if we could feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned and generally treat everyone better, think of how dramatically better life could be. This Christmas could be the beginning of that journey.

Part of my celebration will be to give thanks for the great gifts I have received. My wife and children are healthy and the source of constant joy. I have been blessed with my 93-year-old father and 90-year-old mother still living in Glen Cove. I enjoy good health, a good job, a nice home and friends and lots of extended family.

I know that many are not so fortunate. Many people are lonely. Many are ill, or have someone in the family with a terrible illness. Elderly people may be alone and confused by all of the bureaucracy and bills they must pay. Parents of people we know have lost a child. Too many people are poor, hungry, cold and alone.

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