Thunder & The Wise Ole Owl A Christmas Story

 

                     As old as Thunder was he still did not quite understand what all the hoopla was about 

December the 25th, after all it was just another day to him.   So, he thought that if anyone could 

explain what was so special about December the 25th it would be the Wise Ole Owl (aka W.O. Owl).

Thunder went to go visit W.O. Owl in his little red corvette.  He drove his little red corvette to the 

woods at Oak Crossing.

                  Thunder arrived there in the woods and got out of his car to see W.O. Owl.  He went to the 

Owl's apartment and said, "Wise Ole Owl, I know you may not know everything, but I thought maybe 

you as being one of the most intelligent of all the animals could tell me about the festival on the 25th of 

December.   I mean I know humans have to have festivals to mark the times and seasons of the year as 

it has been since the beginning of time, but as for the 25th of December they do odd things.

                  "My roommate Jimmy even builds a tree which he takes out of the box from the roots on 

up. He then puts lights, balls, and all sorts of stuff on it.  After that he puts boxes with paper under it.

Oh yeah, the tree is so special I am not supposed to mark it like I do other trees.  So why do humans 

find the 25th of December so special? Do you know Mr. Owl?"

                  Mr. Owl took a deep breath in and said, "I agree humans are hard animals to understand, 

but I've done much study on this special day.  As you said humans have festivals which mark certain 

times and seasons us other animals just have to get use to that.  The festival you are asking about falls 

on December 25th.  Now the reason this is so special is, because it supposed to mark the birth of the 

Christ child who would later on die and save us from our sins.

                  "A time when a holy baby was born to a virgin.  They tell of shepherds watching over the 

sheep who see a star, that leads them to the manger where the Christ child lay so they may worship him.

Then there were the wise men who also came to worship the child bringing gifts.  The king of the area 

asked for the infant to be killed so, Joseph, Mary, and the Baby left for Egypt.

                  "Yet some theologians do not believe that December 25th is the correct date.  According to 

them it is too close to the Winter Solstice, being the 21st of December.  According to one source the 

reason for Christmas being on the 25th of December, is due to the fact that the pope went to the King 

of England to find a date for Christ's birth.

                "The pope at the time said that there was a problem placing the date of Christ's birth.  The 

Celtics believe in the celebration of Winter, which falls on the 21st of December.  The Romans, 

however, believe in celebrating the birth of Saturn which falls on January the 7th.  Therefore, lies the 

question of when we celebrate Christ's birth.  The king of England just shrugged his shoulders 

grinned and said why not have it on my birthdate which is December 25th?

                " So, you see every sense that day has been marked as the birth of Christ with 

songs, and other hoopla.  As for the real day and season no one really knows.  All that we do know is 

that the time and season when they celebrate the birth of Christ was started by the Catholic church.

As far as I understand it it's been that way for centuries. 

                "As for the boxes being wrapped up the credit for that goes to the merchants.  The merchants 

planted the idea of gift giving as a way of celebrating Christmas. A way of celebrating the birth of

the Christ child.   As for the tree that is more paganism sprinkled in with Christianity.  Is that enough

information for you?"

                Thunder took a deep breath in and said that it made things a lot clearer.  He said "he 

understood it was a national way to celebrate a holy baby's birth.  As he understood it the baby would 

grow up to save the world from their sins."

                Thunder then went and bought Jimmy some cologne.  Wrapped it up in funny papers and put 

it under the tree.   He then sang, "Oh Christmas Tree", and was quite proud of himself.  For now even  

Thunder had started to mark time as humans do.

Paul D. Eccles

                "