I hope you all have a peaceful and pleasant time over Christmas and New Year. Here in the UK it will be a welcome break from all the BREXIT nonsense - bah humbug to that too! 
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Thank you! You, too.
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Thank you, your greetings are returned from Down Under.
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same to you!
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The forest is proliferating 
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Merry Christmas!
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I am spending Christmas in Hawaii. Mele Kalikimaka! 
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Merry Christmas to everyone and happy Brexmas to @Martin 
(hard to escape that stuff on this side of the Irish sea at the moment too). I didn’t want to give in to the insidious Christmas tree conga-chain peer pressure thing a bunch of you had going 
(but also didn’t want to be the one to break the chain; someone had to do it though, so thanks @Metaphor for restoring common sense while having to tough things out, probably sipping non-alcoholic cocktails, in Hawaii ).
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OK, the pressure’s too much! 
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I’ve always preferred: “Hah! Bumhug.”
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Bah, humbug! pretty well describes my habitual reaction towards Christmas, too.
There was a lovely piece in December’s newsletter from Satipanya meditation centre (written by Noirin Sheahan) though which really gave me cause to reflect:
We sow seeds of kamma with every thought, word and action. What matters is the attitude that prompted us. We reap the kamma, both from the practical consequences of whatever we do, say or think about, and also because that attitude becomes more and more pronounced in our character.
To get the best out of Christmas, we can look for opportunities to sow kamma-seeds associated with good-will (metta). As we’re writing Christmas cards, we can keep pausing to let any stress cool off, then make a calm good wish for whoever we are writing to. When we come up against suffering, metta takes the hue of compassion – we want to alleviate this. To sow these kamma-seeds we could purchase from a charity rather than from high-street shops.
When we’re celebrating, good-will takes the hue of mudita – appreciative joy. We might wonder what’s the point in celebrating Christmas – so much materialism. But we won’t gain any merit from scowling at the Christmas lights and tinsel! The world supports us as we walk our spiritual path - we can find some good in every situation. To sow seeds of mudita we appreciate whatever lifts our heart – even if it’s the glitter of tinsel! So long as it helps us smile through our meetings and greetings, it’s a bonus. We’ll reap that kamma by finding it easier to enjoy and be grateful for worldly blessings like having somewhere to live and food to eat as well as the spiritual blessing of friendship.
Good-will can also take the hue of equanimity – the attitude we need when we come up against unskillfulness. Say we’re disgusted by the waste of the earth’s resources in the Christmas frenzy. We could make the wish “ May this waste not provoke my anger". We’re not pretending there’s no problem. We’re just preventing the problem from becoming our problem as well. We could project equanimity outwards e.g. “ May our society learn not to squander the earth’s resources”.
So we have four flavours of good-will with which to sow our Christmas kamma. Metta (friendliness), compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity. These four are termed the Brahma Vihara – the divine abodes. Each time we practice these, we brighten the world for a moment – and who knows what ripple effects may follow. One thing is sure - we sow a kamma-seed of good-will into our character.
Divine abiding – sounds nice doesn’t it? What better gift to give ourselves this Christmas!
- Noirin Sheahan
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How do you do this?
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I know we’re all aiming for knowing and understanding and so on, but are you sure you want the magic of Christmas to be revealed? 
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Sure! The wish for knowing & understanding clearly prevails! 
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Very good; it’s just an image grab flipped 180°.
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That’s actually what I was suspecting… 
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