The holiday season can sometimes be a hyped-up downer. A lot of people at this time of year bemoan their lengthy gift lists, preparing special food, and coping with traffic and weather while driving to their holiday destinations.

Some also dread the holidays due to loneliness or lost loved ones. While the feeling of missing out on the joy that surrounds the season can be extremely painful, especially while the media push the idea that we are to feel merry and bright 24-7 through the entire month of December, this time of year can be truly uplifting for those who embrace it in spite of the weighty demands.

With all the requirements of the season, it’s easy to forget that the holidays are pretty much the best time of the year when it comes to people treating each other with dignity and respect. Truly, in that respect at least, it’d be wonderful if every month were like December.

The Christmas spirit is often spoken of, but what is it? It has its roots in Christ’s compassion for others, that we should treat others as we would have them treat us, and that we should treat the poor and down-and-out with special consideration. But there are non-religious origins, as well.

Charles Dickens’ masterpiece, “A Christmas Carol,” is an enduring example of the Christmas spirit put into practice. The picture of Ebenezer Scrooge melting back into an actual human being after being confronted with the error of his ways by the three visiting ghosts is about as good a redemption story as there is.

A more recent work, no less a holiday classic in many people’s minds, “A Christmas Story” movie from 1983, shows Ralphie’s big-eyed awe of everything related to Christmas. The rites of the season – choosing the perfect Christmas tree, gazing up at the scary store Santa and forgetting to ask for what he really wanted and then running downstairs Christmas morning and devouring the gifts under the tree in one fell swoop – reflect the non-religious aspects of the Christmas spirit. The spirit is one of awe and wonder and appreciation, as well as joy in the gifts available to us in this world, and beyond.

And something about this prolonged holiday season, Halloween to New Year’s Day, makes life a little better heading into the cold, bleak winter. The holidays, some would argue, are just distracting us from the maneuvers of Old Man Winter, so cunning he is.

While there’s a lot of hustle and bustle and a lot of bad news out there, we see a lot of Christmas spirit, as well. It seems people flood local food pantries with donations more so at Christmas than at any other time of year. The folks who operate these pantries are true saints, acting as intermediaries between the haves and the have-nots. They certainly show us good examples of the benevolent aspect of the Christmas spirit.

The spirit is also evident with chance run-ins with strangers. Most everyone seems a little kinder this time of year, a little more tolerant. TV and radio don’t offer much in the way of uplifting, wholesome role models anymore, but a walk down any Main Street in the real America will show you people are still full of good.

Christmas hasn’t always been this way. Only in the last 200 years or so has the day become a family-focused event. (Check Google to learn when Christmas was considered a good excuse to get drunk.) And in ancient times, long before the Victorian Age, during which personal virtue and family values took leading roles in society (in part inspired by such works such as “A Christmas Carol”), this time of year had several different versions of a feast and merrymaking to mark the Winter Solstice, celebrating the end of six months of growing darkness.

While we tend to think we’re very different from people from thousands of years ago, those pagan feasts weren’t so different from our own in that light’s victory over the dark, whether it was spiritual or physical, was celebrated with goodwill and merrymaking. Any time good beats out evil, even in a metaphorical way, is certainly a good reason to celebrate.

So, with celebrations of all sorts in mind, we at Current Publishing wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.