Happy Christmakwanzakah - don't forget to set up your nativity scene with a non-denominational Santa Claus figurine.

In a world that is trying to accept many different cultures, races, states of mind and beliefs, the meaning of Christmas (and perhaps other holidays) is evolving too.

A friend of mine told me about a man who is teaching his kids about an all-encompassing meaning of Christmas. He has a nativity scene set up with Santa Claus kneeling beside the baby Jesus. They are both a form of faith, but one is more wide-spread for children.

I haven't been fortunate enough to delve deeply into enough other faiths to see if perhaps religion is morphing to appeal to new generations, but it seems that some religious families who typically celebrate the Christmas story as told in a Biblical sense are including good ol' Saint Nick in their bedtime stories too.

The Christmas Story (religious version)

It makes me wonder if generations from now what our grandchildren's grandchildren will think the meaning of the holiday is. Holidays have a history of changing over time; mistletoe and what is now the Christmas tree were both originally Pagan symbols.

The Story of Saint Nick

Personally, I like the idea of updating and merging holiday beliefs. Santa Claus and Jesus are not mutually exclusive. What's important is the meaning of the holiday season, no matter what faith you label yourself as or who/ what you believe in. Love, appreciation and gratefulness have always trumped any sort of belief system around the holidays for me.

So whether you celebrate the holiday with a nativity scene and midnight mass or a fiber-optic Christmas tree and waiting in line to see Santa, I hope that you all have a Merry Little Christmas.