Mind Moves:There are wonderful Christmas words. Words that are defunct throughout the year that we recoup at Christmas time.
These words which "hail" from a different era are as much embedded in our psyches as the gentle tempo of Silent Night or the verses from Clement Clarke Moore's poem, The Night Before Christmas. They are as familiar to us as seeing decorated Christmas trees. We recognise them. They have the taste of Christmas, the warmth of spices and the fragrance of the season.
Most Christmas words are contained in the lyrics of songs, the verses of poems or the messages on Christmas cards. They are part of the commercial conspiracy of Christmas: a sensual scheme of images and words in which most of us participate whether we wish to or not.
Like Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas catches up on us, however we may try to flee from it. If the words are "bah" and "humbug", then it is "bah" and "humbug" that most people embrace, despite our protestations. Because Christmas is not something that we do, it is something that is done to us.
Our senses are assailed at Christmas as the sights, sounds, spectacles and smells that make up this festive time are recreated. In so doing, Christmas is constructed for our children as we simultaneously reconstruct our own childhood Christmases for ourselves.
And much of it is an idealisation rather than a reality, an idealisation we nonetheless strive annually to create. For who has actually had chestnuts roasting on an open fire? How often do we have the white Christmas that we dream of or go walking in a winter wonderland? How regularly do we ride in one-horse open sleighs? When did the request to bring Figgie pudding become our most obstinate demand coupled with a refusal to depart until "we got some?" And who is kissing Santa Claus under the mistletoe?
Yet every reader will recognise these scenes or be able to supply the next lyric to which annual exposure has brought an unconscious memorisation and automatic recitation.
Psychologically, we are not immune to the seasonal sounds that surround us, particularly the predictable, repetitive Christmas ditties. They jingle us through the grocery aisles, bop us along as we shop for gifts, invade our space in supermarkets, and generally keep us purchasing at a predetermined commercial pace.
Occasionally they soothe us when one of the calmer carols reminds us of silence, simplicity and heavenly peace. Or they inspire us. For Dubliners, there is a special affinity with Handel's Messiah whenever they hear it again.
If we listen consciously to the vocabulary of Christmas, then we hear words whose difference provides insight into the manner in which people once lived their lives, or at least how they represented their lives in the Christmas cards and carols that have continued to this day.
We perpetuate this perfectionism for future generations. Each new generation learns the words and sees the sights that constitute Christmas. At Yuletide we do more than listen, we hark not just to earthly sounds, but to herald angels singing and to the glory of both heaven and earth.
The vocabulary of Christmas provides images of merry-making and good cheer. Celebrating the season with family and friends is a dominant image: houses quiet in which "not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse", stockings hung in anticipation of abundance, candles flickering gently, the security of the home within, in contrast to the nip of Jack Frost in the air outside.
But what psychological reality lies behind our Christmas scenes? Do Christmas words carry meaning for us or are they fixed, formulaic annual wishes without substance? Are they printed emotions on cards that are neither read nor retained - palimpsest portrayals or Andy Warhol type cultural re-presentations, the copy of a copy of a copy? Or is Christmas something that extends beyond words, something encapsulated in an image of perfection, a silent night, a holy night, a time that is calm and full of promise and hope? For those for whom this image dominates, this is Christmas.
Perhaps what is important, are not the words we use, but whether we truly communicate how much we care about each other at this time.
Superseding all the commercial images, the foremost image is that of a baby and the message is that peace and power are more present in a baby than elsewhere. That regardless of what one believes, the birth of a child once changed the world and that event has been celebrated ever since.
Perhaps we learn that gifts and greetings are genuine. That despite its commercial mayhem, Christmas provides us with this annual opportunity to express our connection, and when we do this, it is the meaning behind the message, not the medium through which the message comes, that is important.
If words are what we use to communicate, communication is more than words. So, therefore, be of good cheer this yuletide. May nothing you dismay. May the tidings you receive be only those of comfort and joy. May the hosts of people at the sales not disturb you. And, although it has been said, many times, many ways, Merry Christmas to you.
Marie Murray is director of psychology at St Vincent's Hospital, Fairview, Dublin.