This is the Season of 'Give' and 'Take'. Yes- the Parents 'Give' and the children 'Take'!
The Shopping Malls are crowded, attracting waves after waves of customers. The shops - and the homes, as well - will compete with one another to put on their best shows, in the form of lighting and decorations, inside and out.

The meals, the parties, the visits to relatives, friends and neighbors, the exchange of Gifts and Greetings! The singing, at homes and in the streets, the programs on the Radio and T/V! 'Good
Wishes' flowing all around us! Oh, what Fun and Frolic!

Added to this, are the presents and gifts from 'Santa Claus'! The children express their wishes, early in the Season, to their parents. The parents, in turn, tell them to ask from 'Santa'. In the Malls, the children list their wishes to the innumerable 'Santas', in various shops.

And the Centerpiece of all this will be the 'Christmas Tree'- With a Star on top - Star of David.
Go anywhere, you will see small or huge 'Trees'- real or artificial- beautifully decorated, glistening with tinsels and small candle-like lights! Some of them awesome, in the center of the towns, as place of pride! Truly, it IS the Festival of Lights! All this festive mood is in the air since far in advance of the actual Day, the Christmas Day!

And, in all the above, where do we, as Indians - Particularly Hindu - stand?
We have 'Divalee', our Festival of Lights, just a month or two before Christmas.
But being in a minuscule minority, we celebrate it in a very subdued manner. We celebrate our Divaalee, and other festivals in our own communities, in Temples, in homes, with relatives and friends, etc. We celebrate exactly the same way mentioned above, but in a very moot manner.

We light our homes from inside, we decorate the public halls, where we hold the functions to celebrate in groups, we have lights in our Temples.

Yet while we, thus, have brightness around us in our community and a festive mood, outside all life is normal, with hardly any ripple, otherwise! In no way the world around is affected.
And, exactly the same thing happens, particularly, in our homes and minds, at Christmas time. For us, all life is normal, with not a ripple, otherwise. No, wrong! Yes, we are affected, but in a very limited way. Not emotionally, any way!

But, in case of homes with children, it is a different story. Because we can not see the disappointment in the eyes of our little Angels, we try to bring the same gaiety and happiness in our homes. We have 'Christmas Tree', at home, for their sake, and some times keep presents under the Tree. (They have already received some at the time of Divaalee, mark you! The ones under the Tree are 'bonus').

In our minds, we may feel uneasy. But we do so for the love of our children, for the joy we wish to see on their innocent faces. It is, however interesting to note, and to know- that there are millions of Christians world over, of many denominations, who do not celebrate Christmas. They do not believe that Jesus was born on Dec 25th. As a matter of fact, it was some time at the end of August or early September. You ask the Priests, in the Churches, and they will grudgingly admit it.

The references in the Bible itself, that at the time of birth of Jesus, the formations of stars in the night skies and the weather around - the shepherds bringing their flocks in, at nights, because the nights were 'getting cold', suggest this.

Then how did this '25th of December' come to Pass?
In the ancient Europe, the Pagans used to celebrate a festival of their Gods, at the end of Dec - 25th December, the specific day*. A king, converted to Christianity, tried hard to change this custom of his subjects, making them celebrate the Birth of Christ instead. However, as he failed to do so, he declared the date of birth of Christ, as 25th December. Hence, the date - 25th December,
(This information, from the literature published by the 'True Church of God', Pasadena, California, USA. See their site on the Internet). (So much for the Truthfulness and Honesty of the followers of the 'Apostle of Truth'!)

* (The Geetaa Jayantee, or the birthday of the Bhagavad Geetaa, is celebrated throughout India and other parts of the world by all the admirers and lovers of this most sacred scripture on the eleventh day (Ekaadashee) of the bright half (Shukla Paksh) of the month of Maargsheersh (December-January) , according to the Hindu almanac. It was on this day that Sanjaya narrated to King Dhritarashtra the dialogue between Shree Krishn and Arjun, and thus made the glorious teachings of the Lord available to us, and to people of the world, for all time. The Geetaa Jayantee marks one of the greatest days in the history of mankind. Nearly six thousand years ago on that day a dazzling flash of brilliant light lit up the firmament of human civilization. That flash, that marvelous spiritual effulgence, was the message of the Bhagvad Geetaa, given by the Lord Himself on the battlefield of Kuru Kshetra. Unlike ordinary flashes of light which die away after a split-second, this brilliant flash of that memorable day has continued to shine through the centuries, and even now illumines the path of humanity on its onward march to perfection).

However, coming to the subject proper - 'Having Christmas Trees in our homes'.
By all means let us have them, for the sake of our children. But with a Hindu touch! How?

Do you, Parents, remember, our old folks talking about a Tree- 'Kalp Taru' or 'Kalp Vriksh' or 'Kalp Drum'? A Tree under which you make a wish and it would come true? For us Hindu, what else is a 'Christmas' Tree, but a 'Kalp Taru!' And the Star on top? That is the 'Dhruv Taaraa', (The Northern Star)! The guiding Light! Steadfast, never wavering, helping us steer in the right direction in Life!

So, keeping our conscience and tradition, in tact, we can safely bring a Christmas Tree in the home and impress upon the minds of our children that the Christians have borrowed the idea from us.
The 'Christmas' Tree is our own 'Kalp Taru' and the presents and gifts under the Tree, are given by it. Thus, our homes will not remain 'Dark' and our children will not be deprived of the enjoyment of the season.

So, let us celebrate Christmas with the same gusto as Divaalee, bringing our own Social Spirit in it.
If Christians can twist Christmas to their advantage, why not we?
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In passing - Does this sound familiar? Christ - 2,000 years ago, and Krishn (Kristo - In Bangaalee language), in antiquity?
====Matthew 2:1 (New International Version)After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.
====The "Star" then led the astrologers to Herod first to let him know Jesus was born. Why; Because Herod wanted to kill the new born King. This is evidenced by the fact that he later killed all of the boys 2 years old and younger because the astrologers were warned in a dream not to tell Herod where Jesus was.
====Matthew 2:13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.
====Matthew 2:16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. No, God did not send a "star" to conduct them to Jesus. Is it not more likely that this "star" was sent by someone seeking to destroy Jesus before he was able to fulfill his God-given assignment?- Compare Genesis 3:15 and Revelation 20:1
=====A food for thought - Please, think over it. Did Bharat ever rule Europe?
In the old days, European year consisted of ten months.
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The Romans borrowed parts of their earliest known calendar from the Greeks. The calendar consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter. The 10 months were named Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. The last six names were taken from the words for five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced this calendar in the 700s BCE. According to tradition, the Roman ruler Numa Pompilius added January and February to the calendar. This made the Roman year 355 days long (the old one was 304 days long). To make the calendar correspond approximately to the solar year, Numa also ordered the addition every other year of a month called Mercedinus. Mercedinus was inserted after February 23 or 24, and the last days of February were moved to the end of Mercedinus. In years when it was inserted, Mercedinus added 22 or 23 days to the year".
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Please mark, in Sanskrit language - Sept and Sapt, Oct and Asht, Novem and Navam, Dec and Dasham! First month of Hindu calendar is 'Chaitra', that is generally, month of March. Counting from that, the seventh month is September, eighth is October, ninth is November and tenth is December. Does it tally?

Now, 'X'Mas! What has Christmas to do with 'X'Mas, except for coincidence? Doesn't 'X' mean Ten in Roman script, and doesn't 'Mas' mean month in Sanskrit? So, all in all, again, it means 'Tenth Month'.
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Now think of this - Greenwich (England) Mean Time, GMT, which the world goes by, is behind Iindian time by 5 and 1/2 hours. That is, when it is 5.30 am in Bhaarat, it is 12 Midnight in England. No one in his right senses would get up at midnight to adjust the clock. Isn't it rational that a day be counted from 'Dawn' to 'Dawn', as is our Bhaarateeya practice? Therefore, it is logical to conclude that the people in England (for example) started their day, when it was midnight there, and 'Dawn' in India.
Amen! ie. OM!