Page 38 - December 2020 Voices

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Speaking of the Holidays - Bah, Humbug!

Ken Coomes, DTM

Don’t be too hasty with your
“Bah, Humbug!” Whether
you celebrate Christmas,

Chanukah (or Hanukkah),
Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, or
even just the New Year, I
have a gift (more than one)

for you. That’s right, even
for the New Year.
How can that be, you
might ask? People don’t give

gifts for the New Year. Your
first gift: change that. After
all, starting and continuing
something is the way

traditions get started. We
didn’t celebrate Kwanzaa
until 1966, when Dr. Maulana
Karenga invented the ritual

to celebrate the first harvests
being brought into the home
(as a celebration for African-
Americans of their heritage

and culture.)
Twenty-six years later,
when our youngest son
Andrew was only five years

old, we decided to “hold
back” one of the plenitude
of gifts he received from
grandparents, aunts, uncles,

38 ONE COMMUNITY