An invitation to return to what truly matters: when December steps away from consumerism and regains its power to heal, unite, and remind us.
By Claudia Benítez
HoyLunes – We enter this month with hope shining in our eyes, trying to illuminate our hearts. In my article “The Echo Behind the Lights,” I show how the market turns this season into a cluster of consumption, transforming it into a model of perfection that conditions our vision of happiness and leads us to frustration, demanding from us an attitude toward existence that leaves us with a deep emptiness. I conclude it by emphasizing memory, through which we recognize ourselves and learn to live. Advertising—although it manipulates and conditions—also has the ability to awaken deep emotions within us and connect us with essential elements of our feelings.
Today, as I listen to an old advertisement… “Happiness is everything that is given without reservation, a flower, a kiss, the tenderness of love. Christmas is everything that reminds us that life is beautiful, that December is love”… I remember how, during these end-of-year days, I waited for the warmth of family ceremonies, those customs that accompany us as time passes and strengthen our resilience in difficult moments. It is the remembrance of a scent, a flavor, a game, a smile, the songs—what ultimately sustains us in the midst of dramatic reality.
That song envelops me in its luminous vision of this time of reconciliation, with images that rescue what is essential, human, warm. It is precisely that contrast that invites us to look beyond the superficial shine. The verses, as simple as they are profound, capture with precision the essence of what we truly need during these days. Beyond decorations, lights, and traditions, December becomes a symbolic space where humanity recognizes itself again in its most intimate values: generosity, tenderness, gratitude, and hope.
In times marked by haste, uncertainty, and emotional fatigue, these verses act as an urgent reminder of what truly gives meaning to our existence. Happiness is not a distant goal or a prize reserved for a few; it is born when it is offered without reservation, when what is simple and authentic is shared. A flower, a gesture, a hug.
Small things that, nevertheless, contain the very essence of love. December transforms our present with that magical ability to make us pause and return to a more human gaze upon the world and upon ourselves. It invites us to remember that life is beautiful even when it seems contradictory, with its blend of nostalgia and celebration; it also becomes a collective act of renewal. It is a month that allows us to believe—even if only for a moment—that it is possible to begin again.
Today, more than ever, we need that spark of hope. We need to believe in the strength of affection, in solidarity, in the small lights we ignite in each other. We need to renew ourselves by remembering that life is beautiful.
Perhaps that is the true miracle of this season: the possibility of rediscovering the best within ourselves so that we may share it with others.
#hoylunes, #claudia_benitez,
