Christmas Message

Merry Christmas!

Cue all the "We need to remember the real reason for the season" comments.  Do they really make a difference?  Does my saying a snarky "Merry Christmas" in response to a genuine "Happy Holidays" make the world a better place?

Also, does my griping about the above things make a difference or speak to the real reason of Christmas?

Ah, no.

So instead, I want to look at what makes Christmas special to me.

For the first time in over a decade, I get more than a few days off for Christmas.  Two weeks off from school is going a long way toward reinvigorating that nostalgia feeling that is so key to Christmas.  As a child, I loved the expectation of Christmas, but loved just as much the idea of nothing to do for two weeks.  I'll get to spend this time with my family, and that's a win for me.

Family is the other thing that makes it special.  Watching the kids decorate gingerbread houses and shout out the car windows at their favorite lighted house.  Deflecting the request to open presents at least twice a day until the day they actually get to open them.  Honoring my wife's request to not snoop or detect what she got me.  Getting together with the extended family that we don't get to see as often.  All these things make it special.

If I'm being honest, and I try to be, I love getting gifts.  I'm kinda a big kid, so opening the gifts I've labored to not snoop is a huge part of the Christmas spirit.  I like things, and that's not wrong.

I also like watching others open the gifts I got them.  The look of appreciation- and if we're lucky, total joy and surprise- is worth the work put in to find the right gift.  I love to see people happy, especially if I've played a part in that happiness.

I enjoy my kids anticipation of Santa Claus.  Their excitement the nights leading up to Christmas Eve is palpable, and their hope that they will get all they want is a beautiful thing to see.  It is an exercise in faith.  And yes, I believe in Santa- the idea of a spirit of giving and magic and wonder is real, even if the fat man in a suit is questionable.

Christmas is about all these things.  Yes, even Santa.  Because all these things are tied into Jesus.  Yes, even Santa.  Santa is, to me, another symbol of Christ.  Christ is full of hope and joy and expectation and generosity- and if Santa helps people see those qualities, awesome.  My children are challenged to evaluate why they believe in Santa- I view it as a practice in their faith for Christ.  Some day their faith in the man in the red suit may fade, but they will have learned that faith is real.  I am ambiguous with them about my belief in Santa- I am resolute with them about my belief in Christ.

After all, Santa is based off a real man named Saint Nicholas.  A man who became a symbol because he believed in something bigger than himself- the gift of Jesus.  Yes, Christmas is commercialized and Santa as we know him a fabrication- but the spirit is real, and the spirit is born out of the life and teachings of Christ.  Santa can teach us about God after all.

And we must remember this- Christmas is not the reason we are saved.  It is joyous and hopeful where the Cross is sorrowful and painful, but the Cross is necessary for the Manger to have any meaning.  And the Tomb is necessary for both of them to be worth recognizing. 

Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Easter is my favorite Holy Day. 

Christmas is the day we see the gift under the tree, Good Friday is the day we see the gift opened on the tree, Resurrection Day is the day we see what the gift truly is.

So for me, Christmas is just the beginning.  And the best is yet to come.