Anonymous asked: sometimes words are not enough...pictures are. they are worth a thousand words. and you take a thousand pictures. that's worth a lot...why don't you take a lot of pictures of yourself? that would be nice for a change

hmmm… yeah I have though about that a lot of times. I really do not have a perfect answer as to why I do not take a lot of photos of myself. Maybe it’s because I would like someone to take photos of me too… I think. LOL. As I said, I am not very sure why. 

So again, it is Christmas (actually a few hours ago was Christmas day). It was a normal day for me. There was really nothing out of the ordinary about the day… at least my day. On tv, there was a lot to say about Christmas. People giving different reasons why Christmas is special in their lives. People: different races, with different ideas, thoughts, some even had philosophies and ideological concepts underlying why they believe in Christmas or otherwise. 

As a young child, I was thrilled about Christmas. Just the thought of it, it seemed, made my blood circulate at an increased speed causing my heart to beat faster. An abundance of joy drowned my heart. I’m older now, I am not as moved by Christmas as the young Richard. A few hours before I began typing this blog post, I was engaged in self-deliberation about what had changed. Did Christmas change?? Or did I change?? Or was it an interlocking affair of the two possibilities that really was the answer? What was the answer? It seemed shrouded in a somewhat shadowy room.

It became clear, however, that at the core of my change in attitude stemmed from the questions that fumed in my mind, unquenched. Moving through the streets of my beloved Accra I see black men dressed as santa wearing fake long, white beards. In fact I see this in church too. Which to me does not fit into my culture as a Ghanaian. Neither do I see it in my Bible. So then, how does Santa represent Christmas? And is he really the Father of Christmas? What has he got to do with the birth of Christ? We decorate our Christmas trees every year. Do we know why we do that? Does the tree have any inherent qualities apart from decorative purposes?

Principal among my questions is how do we know Christ, our Lord was really born on 25th December? Maybe I am thinking too much. Or maybe, just maybe, these are valid questions that need to be answered. In my opinion, Christmas is about Christ: the guy who died selflessly. But I see the picture of a long-bearded man wearing a red hat on the Christmas card. Is it really about Christ? I hear folks talk about the Christmas Spirit. Is that spirit the Holy Spirit the Bible talks about or a different Spirit? If it is a different Spirit, is it Christian? Is Christmas even Christian anymore?

I asked myself, if Jesus was to come to earth, would he sing “jingle bells, jingle bells”? Would he decorate Christmas trees? Would he go out shopping for himself?… Getting all the goodies he can get. I do not know. But I bet he would have given to the poor, inspired some people not to give up on life, fed the hungry folks and mos def tell people about himself (the Gospel).

Well… as I said, I do not have all the answers. I hope to find answers to some, if not all, of these questions before next Christmas. Please do not get me wrong, enjoy Christmas. These are my personal questions.

Merry Christmas and God bless!