I’ve lived through many Christmases by this point in my life and observed a few things about this favorite holiday.
Based on those observations, I suggest that we do a bit of dividing. First, Christmas should be divided into two holidays.
In the Christian world Christmas began as a “holy day” (which we’ve condensed into holiday with an entirely different meaning). In the Catholic Church, Christ’s Mass was celebrated on that day, a phrase we’ve condensed into “Christmas.”
The problem with celebrating Christ’s birth at what we call Christmas is that over 2000+ years, many pagan customs got mixed into our idea of Christmas. To pagans, the evergreen tree inside a house represented fertility and new life in the midst of a dark winter; the lights represented protection against the evil spirits that lurked in the darkness; gift giving began with the Romans (before Christ) to honor the god Saturn for giving the gift of fruitfulness all year.
Christian priests and preachers have labored over the years to convert these pagan customs to Christian symbols: the tree represents the new life that Christ brings; the lights represent Christ, the Light of the world; the gift-giving recalls the gifts brought by the Magi to the Christ Child.
But if you’ll notice, for most people the message of Christ coming into the world gets buried under all the wrapping paper and shopping, the to-do lists and letters to Santa (who is also a pagan symbol, by the way), the cooking and the decorating.
Jesus wasn’t even born in December. That was the time of the last big pagan celebrations before the beginning of a long, dark winter--thus the emphasis on lights. His birth was more likely in the spring, or some say as late as August.
I don’t see anything wrong with a winter holiday celebrating family and love for one another and eating cookies. There’s nothing wrong with a holiday on which we decorate with trees and pretty lights and give gifts to the people we love and serve them food and play “Jingle Bells.” Call it Winterfest, but don’t call it a “holy day.”
Then, closer to Christ’s estimated birth date, we who believe in Him could have a real celebration of His birth, a day without the pagan symbols that detract from His coming and His purpose in the world. You’d think Christians would appreciate a more authentic “holy day.”
Okay, so that probably won’t happen. Most of us are too entrenched in the worldly traditions of a Christmas paired with a spiritual overtone that makes us feel good. We aren’t ready to divide Christmas into two celebrations, but it’s a worth a thought.
I’ve also observed that for greater mental health we need to divide the reality of Christmas from the fantasy view of the season. The media, and especially advertising, which funds the media, inundate us with images of the Christmas that dreams are made of, impossible to achieve, of course, except that after we’ve seen the images we feel guilty if we can’t produce the perfect holiday for our loved ones that lives up to the hype.
Advertisers study consumers. They know our needs, our hopes and our dreams. They then create “needs” in us: “you can’t function without 5G so you must buy a new 5G phone for your kid” and “your family needs a new alarm system for safety.”
They know we hope to be loved, so they show us that giving a diamond ring or a new car will bring eternal romance. We can put just the right gifts under the tree that will make our children adore us forever.
They tell us that we deserve that new luxury car, that cashmere coat, that cruise to the Bahamas. With gorgeous photography and beautiful models, they show us what those dreams would look like. And we can have that dream Christmas with just the swipe of a credit card!
In the Hallmark
Christmas movies, everyone’s dreams come true, and everyone’s problems are solved just in time for Christmas Day.
The reality is that Christmas isn’t a Hallmark movie in which everyone shows up in your beautifully decorated home at your perfectly appointed table and announces that his or her life is now perfect, thanks to Santa...and YOU!
The reality is that life goes on, even during Christmas. You may eat dinner with a son who still has the same anger issues on December 25 that he had on the 24th. Grammy may still be criticizing the food, and Aunt Lootie Mae may be dingy-er than ever. Uncle Bubba is still drinking too much. You may burn the turkey and have to serve it on paper plates. You may be so busy you’ll have to host the meal in your sweatpants instead of the velvet outfit you saw on a TV Christmas commercial. There probably won’t be a new luxury car tied with a big red bow waiting for you in the snow. There probably won’t be snow.
But in about a week, whatever your real Christmas is will be here. Get real about it and enjoy it, however it turns out.
