Before we begin, let’s first
revisit the true meaning of Christmas. Its not “giving”, its not “sharing,” its
not “doing charity,” although all of those are good things and we can make a
logical argument why they are related to Christmas. But really, the holiday is
the observance/recognition/celebration/remembrance of the birth of Jesus
Christ, Lord and Savior. Linus explains
that pretty clearly to all the Peanuts kids.
And yes – I know about winter Solstice and harvest festivals, Santa
Claus, Christmas trees, etc. etc. But, still, Christmas is about Jesus Christ’s
birth even if it is on December 25 for some random reason that has nothing to
do with the Bible that some folks long time ago thought would be a good day.
Now that we’ve
got that straightened out, here’s how we’re doing this thing all wrong, causing
ourselves a bunch of stress.
Note, that I am
writing this blogpost surrounded by open boxes of gold ribbon, sparkly
ornaments, statues of angels and snowmen, and green garland, while taking a
break from draping everything in my house in boughs of holly. So, yes, I am
including myself in that “we.”
We treat
Christmas as the “Give Everyone You Have Ever Seen in the Past Year a Gift”
Day. Why am I giving the dude who drops
off my newspaper or cuts my grass a Christmas gift? Why is my dentist sending me a Christmas
card? My kids’ teachers and coaches are nice people, but why do I need to give
each and every one of them a Christmas gift? I don’t even know if all these
people are Christians. Why don’t we give some of these people gifts on a day
that makes more sense? Give the grass cutter his tip at the end of summer. Give
the coach a gift at the end of the season. Give the teacher a gift during Teacher
Appreciation week or on the last day of school as an apology for all the
headaches your child has caused. Why Christmas?
We try to
include everyone in Christmas. I had to catch myself the other day as I was
looking for Christmas cards (which I haven’t sent out yet.) I picked up cards
with a Nativity scene and Bible verses on them, then started looking for a box
that I could send to people who may not be Christian. Why? I said to myself.
Why am I looking for not-too-Christmas-y Christmas cards to send to non-Christians?
This doesn’t even make sense! I’ve never received a Hannakuh card, am not
offended by that and doubt that my Jewish friends even think twice about it.
Giving folks random stuff as gifts. With all the gifting, we give pretty bad gifts. Why, oh why, do we think that giving someone an icescraper is a good gift? Or underwear? Or any other thing that you grabbed up from the CVS aisle on December 24th? The other day, we were in the store and saw a gift package – it had a razor, shaving cream, and deodorant all wrapped up in a pretty box. My kids and I laughed so hard - this is a terrible gift. It says “here, I was thinking about how hairy and smelly you are – Merry Christmas.” What? Why is that giftboxed? Because we panic when we look at the 5011 people on our gift list and start just grabbing random nonsense off the shelves and sticking a bow on it. Cut your list to people you really care about, buy them something with thought. I’d rather get a candy cane than a bottle of shaving cream.
We threaten to
“take away Christmas.” What’s the go-to response when our kids act up or don’t
do so great on their report card, especially post-Thanksgiving when Santa
starts making his list? But we can’t
“take away Christmas” anymore than we can take away Saturday or the sun coming
up. December 25 is coming regardless of what your kid does, unless he can stop
time. What we really mean is we are not
going to give them gifts if they don’t what we want them to do. But this
conditionality isn’t what Christmas is about; in fact, it’s the opposite. God sent Jesus because He loved His people.
Unconditionally. And after the folks still acted up – in the Bible and since
then - God didn’t say “too bad – no more Jesus for you.” Jesus is the full
earthly embodiment of unconditional love.
This is what we should model in our Christmas celebration, not
threatening to take away a box of Legos or a doll because our kids didn’t make
up their bed.
We think
everybody should celebrate Christmas… or nobody should. I didn’t even pay attention to that Starbucks
red cup thing since I don’t need a coffee house to tell me how and when to
celebrate a religious holiday. How much energy and debate goes on each year
over whether there should be a Nativity scene in the town square, whether the
kids should sing Rudolph in the Winter Concert, why we can’t hang a Santa on
the school door, _______ (fill in the blank with your neighborhood
example.) Observe your own holiday, be
respectful of others who may or may not wish to join you, don’t be offended if
a symbol of Christmas dares to cross your sight.
Even Non-Christians
let themselves get stressed out about Christmas. I kinda feel bad for people
who aren’t Christian, because I assume its some kind of social pressure that makes
them come up with an associated celebration of a holiday that they don’t
celebrate. They have to mail out some kind of cards, explain to their kids who
Santa is and why he’s not coming to their house, or pack up and head to Hawaii
to get away from all the boughs of holly. (Okay, I don’t feel bad for those
people on the beach.) If I was non-Christian, I think I would like to ignore
all the Christmas hoopla and focus on my normal life or the trauma its going to
cause my kids.
The Elf on the
Shelf. I’m just so glad that this phenomenon caught on after my kids were too
old to be amused by it. That’s all.
Letting all the ways we're "supposed" to enjoy Christmas stress us out. Yes, Christmas has morphed into this religious, but also secular, holiday and the
meaning gets lost in the shuffle sometime. That’s something we each have to
work out for our own households. But
while we’re doing it – let’s get rid of the extras that add to our stress and stop doing the stuff that doesn't bring us joy so that we can truly enjoy the spirit of the holiday instead of approaching it dreading all the work it "requires." And in the meantime, I’ll be
dancing with the Peanuts gang and the Jackson 5 and
watering my poinsettias.
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