In the hustle and bustle of modern life, it can sometimes be easy to overlook the simple things, the important things in our lives that mean the most to us and define us as a people: friendship, sharing, community…offering a helping hand, saying please and thank you, doing things with no expectation of getting something in return…saying “I love you”, showing appreciation, enjoying the company of friends and strangers alike.

These are the things that matter most, not how many presents are under the tree or who spent the most on who. Christmas is a time of fellowship and love, a time for reflecting on who we are and where we’re going, and for being grateful for what we have.

I remember when I was a kid, maybe 10 or 11, and I saw “A Charlie Brown Christmas” for the first time. I thought it was a cool cartoon at the time, but it took many years for me to realize that a little, bald, round-headed kid and his thumb-sucking, blanket-toting friend probably knew more about what Christmas should be than most adults. It remains one of my favorite Christmas shows to this day, and I share a portion of it here with you now:

To all our family, friends, colleagues, customers, clients and everyone else too, we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe, healthy and Happy New Year!

Post from: Wallingford Wired©2009 by Pat & Wayne Harriman

A Christmas Message from Harriman Real Estate

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

There, I said it. 

Over the past several years, there has been a inexorable movement away from the holiday-specific “Merry Christmas” towards the more general and politically correct “Happy Holidays”. Proponents of this give many reasons why they do this: they don’t celebrate Christmas, it’s offensive to them, Christmas is a pagan holiday, their religion observes a different holiday, yada yada. Whatever.

It’s rare nowadays to go anywhere during December and hear a heartfelt “Merry Christmas”. I even heard a mall Santa Claus say, “Happy Holidays” recently. He just didn’t seem as jolly to me after hearing that. When I was a kid growing up in Maine, you couldn’t go anywhere without being met by friends and acquaintances offering a good old, “Merry Christmas” and a wave or a handshake, or even a kiss and a hug. Happy Holidays was rarely seen, or heard. No one would even consider saying it, because it was Christmas, and we went out shopping for Christmas gifts to put under a Christmas tree, a real tree, smelling all piny and oozing sticky sap that got on your hands when you put it up. Your parents always had the obligatory party on Christmas Eve and you gathered around the old, out-of-tune upright piano and sang Christmas carols until your voice was hoarse, or Aunt Ethel couldn’t play any more because of her arthritis or the six cups of spiked Christmas eggnog she drank.

You went to bed that night with dreams of the new bike or sled waiting for you under the tree, and you got up on Christmas morning and ran downstairs, yelling “Merry Christmas” as you whizzed past your parents on the way to a skidding stop beside the pile of presents under that shining tree. Later your Mother fixed Christmas dinner and you waited for Dad to say Grace before you hastily said “Amen” and then plowed into a heaping mound of mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and turkey. You went to bed that night stuffed, but happy.

Back in the day, you said “Merry Christmas” to everybody, and nobody was offended even if they didn’t celebrate Christmas, because they knew what you meant when you said it. It didn’t mean you thought you were superior to anyone else or had no respect for them, it was simply a way to say you wished the best for everyone, regardless of race, creed, skin color or religious persuasion. It brought people together and brought out the best in people, no matter what their own situations might be, and no one was offended.

So much for the old days. But, I still want to go out on a limb and risk offending someone, throw caution to the wind and political correctness be damned. I will, therefore, close by saying the same thing I said at the very beginning:

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!

Post from: Wallingford Wired©2009 by Pat & Wayne Harriman

A Christmas Message

As we near the end of another year, we would like to take this time to thank everyone for making 2008 another fantastic year. We have been blessed by our association with so many wonderful people: our past and present clients, who we now call friends; colleagues who are as passionate and committed to their work as we are; family who, though scattered over many states and soon another continent, have showered us with their unconditional love and support; all the new friends we have met through our presence on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, FriendFeed, and other social media sites; and the executives and support staff of the best real estate company in New England and the US, William Raveis Real Estate.

From our home to yours, we wish everybody a very Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and a safe, healthy and prosperous 2009!

Post from: Wallingford Wired©2009 by Pat & Wayne Harriman

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!