Dear Editor:
The stories that people shared about their Christmas memories were enjoyable to read and got me thinking about my Christmas memories growing up. Although my family is not Christian, my parents were open-minded enough to tell us about the story of Jesus as many have done in India even before Christianity ever reached Europe.
Although my family was not well off, my parents did their best to give us a bit of the "commercialized" experience that Christmas seems to have become for many.
I may not have appreciated my parents' efforts when I was a child because I could see my bet-ter-off neighbours and friends "fully celebrating" Christmas with large, expensive Christmas trees, decorations and presents. I certainly appreciate those efforts now and wouldn't trade those experiences for anything.
The most profound Christmas story that my mother told me (aside from the story of Jesus) was my mother's own personal experience with a tragedy that she had suffered when I was less than two years old.
My mother had just been informed at Grace Hospital that she had suffered from a miscarriage due to complications during her pregnancy.
Devastated and alone (my father was busy at work) in the hospital room from news that no expectant mother wants to hear, my mother cried endlessly. When my mother finished crying, she looked up and noticed the crucifix that was affixed to the wall. My mother prayed that night, asking for a sibling for her son. My baby brother was born on Christmas Day that year in 1975 at Grace Hospital. My mother taught me that my brother, like everyone and everything in our lives, is a gift.
For me, it is not politically correct to change the greeting to "Happy Holidays." It is rather politically incorrect to do so. I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
Harmel Guram, Burnaby
