Normally, during this time of the year, even a kindergarten pupil will tell you without hesitation, what the mood is all about. And so, over 2000 years after the death of Christ, December 25 still reminds us of the birth of the Messiah and the King of Kings on that first Christmas night while the shepherds watched their flock and the angel of the Lord appeared to them. Though a solemn occasion, unfortunately however, Christmas seems to have lost its real meaning despite the many attempts by Christians to re-live the occasion. The Christmas carols, the nativity plays, and the festivals of nine lessons all remind us of the unsurpassed celebrity birth we are supposed to be observing. However, the occasion of the Messiah’s birth has been commercialised to such an extent that even when you call an artisan to do some work for you in your home; he wants to take advantage of the season we are in and seek to make profit out of you. In the midst of all the commercialisation, one thing however which seems to be recurrent this time of the year is marriage ceremonies. I have come to observe that both traditional marriages and conventional weddings at Christmas time are very much on the increase these days. Church notices from the beginning of December through to the first week of January are laced with beautiful reminders of weddings that are to be celebrated in the church. Week after week, church announcers are taking time to catch their breath as they run through the list of names of couples whose marriages are to be consummated during the period we are in. Those couples who are not making it to the church are consummating their marriages in the traditional way.Whichever tradition the marriage is contracted under, the Christmas season is becoming an occasionwhere families and friends make conscious effort to celebrate one of the most memorable days in a loved one’s life – marriage. Nico, my gardener for many years, and who has now become very much a part of my family, informed me some weeks back about his marriage the traditional way to his girl friend this season. Though generally a shy person, his excitement in announcing the event to me was indescribable. He has selected to do it this time of the year and in no other place but his village. Not that he does not want me to attend but more so that his and her parents and other members of both families who are in the village will have something to celebrate this Christmas. I have already imagined what a party it is going to be and the mood in that village this Christmas as two of their sons and daughters get united in marriage. The elders who would preside over the marriage ceremony already have a good example of lessons they would wish the youth of the village to emulate. We have already entered the third week of December. I have managed it to 2 weddings and one engagement ceremony. I have just missed one that I dearly wanted to attend but for last minute issues I had to deal with. I always love to see two young people getting married. At the point of being declared man and wife, they look too content to let the supposed worries of married life stand in their way. We have a little over a week to the end of the year and within this period; I have to factor in 3 more wedding invitations and one traditional marriage ceremony all of which are must attend events for me. These days you cannot ask someone to come along with you to a wedding as we used to do times past. If you tried it you are likely to embarrass yourself and more especially, the person you invite along. So far, all the wedding invitations I have received are ‘closed’ ones. Inside one of the beautiful wedding invitation cards I have received are the boldly printed words: ‘Kindly bring card to reception’.Two others have table seat numbers for only one person. Weddings generally are expensive ventures and so I can imagine how very costly a Christmas wedding would be. While a Christmas wedding will give family and friends an occasion for a big re-union, it must be very expensive for the couple and their families. Because Christmas itself has been over commercialised, any event so linked will naturally be above normal price. From the making of the clothes of the bridal and the groom’s teams to catering, drinks, music, photography, decoration and flowers, each of these cost areas will definitely have an extra Christmas component built into it. So why would couples select the already self-made expensive occasion like Christmas to get married? In talking to one bride to be, I got the sense that there is something like a ‘parental influence’ when it comes to some of these things. Left to this young lady alone, she would have had a simple wedding and on a week-day when most people are at work. Her further preference would have been selecting a month not necessarily linked to any general holiday season on the calendar. However, her wishes are not that of her parents, she told me. She said that her mother for example insisted on a ‘ceremonial’ wedding this time of the year because ‘this is the day she has been waiting for’. She happens to be the only daughter of her parents and they had apparently saved for many years towards her wedding day. A marriage counsellor I spoke to is of the opinion that some families look out for a Christmas wedding because in the first place weddings are seen to be a celebration to bring families and friends together. And in these days where relations are all scattered around the globe, Christmas is when such families and acquaintances abroad are able to take some vacation to visit home. Fixing a memorable occasion like Christmas therefore gives families the opportunity of a good family re-union. It may make sense to use occasions when family members are together for such memorable events. However, when it comes to Christmas, we have allowed our personal preferences to overshadow the celebration of such a meaningful event as Christmas. I have made some observations and certainly, marriage ceremonies have over-clouded the lessons that the celebrated birth of our Messiah and King of Kings are supposed to remind us of. The situation does not get any better with time. Christmas has definitely become a self-made season for marriages. Reality Zone With Vicky Wireko vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com