Joy of the holidays

The holidays are often a time for joy and fun. Many people celebrate them in totally different ways.
One of the greatest things about living in the United States is the ability to celebrate how you like and not be frowned upon or persecuted for one’s beliefs.
I think people take that freedom for granted in too many ways. They don’t always look at things in such a positive manner. Freedom of religion is one of the best freedoms we as Americans can have.
Whether people believe we should have a nativity set up at City Hall or a Christmas display in the park. I think those things bring people together. They unite communities and allow people to have similar beliefs and bonds with one another.
Granted, not all religions celebrate the birth of Christ or even give gifts for Christmas, but one must realize how big of an event the holiday has become.
The money that a lot of businesses and stores make during the holiday helps them make it through the slower periods in January and February. People celebrate with gifts, visiting relatives and in many areas just being with family.
What can be better than spending time with the people you love the most? This time of year really means so much to so many different people.
Whether someone is going to church to pray, going to grandmother’s house for supper or dessert or spending time with a friend, it is all equally important. In the end it is about doing what makes you happy and being with the people you love.
It sounds so simple and it isn’t always that easy, but being with the one’s you love is really what makes this time of the year one of the best.
I, for one, will be having an interesting time considering that my oldest child will be a teen-ager seven days before Christmas. This wouldn’t be so bad except she is now only one inch shorter than me and I really feel she is not quite done growing.
About 13 years ago almost to the day I wrote a column about her being born and what a joy it was to have a baby for Christmas. It was one of the proudest accomplishments of my life. Getting married and having a baby are two of the best things in my life. The next is the birth of my son a few years later.
The funny thing was I always said I wanted a daughter first and a boy later. Now as she is getting older I am not so sure that was the best thing to wish for.
It really seems like the time has flown by for my family and I. Over the 13 years I have covered so many events and met so many different people. Being in Dexter and Chelsea now and covering those communities really sheds light on what this all means to me.
People are very interesting to me and covering different aspects of the news and sports worlds is also interesting. I love hearing the different ideas and meeting the different types of people in this job. Everyone has a voice and it is part of my job to explain those voices.
Dave Merchant is a staff writer for the Dexter Leader and Chelsea Standard and can be reached at 734-429-7380 or dmerchant@heritage.com