Christmas Traditions

A lot of my holiday traditions got disrupted this year.  The simple fact that I live in a different place now was responsible for a lot of it, but there were also some other changes for a variety of reasons.  For example, none of my Christmas ornaments got hung on any tree this year, probably for the first time since I was born.  Well, actually that isn't quite true; my parents were trying to steal a few of them by hanging them on their tree while I was separating mine out of their boxes.  I caught them :)

Anyhow, none of that is as important as what it all got me thinking about.  The holidays seem to me to be the time of the year most governed by tradition.  I mean, there are various traditional things throughout the year, but especially around Christmas there is this whole extra set of rules and practices that goes into effect.  Presents, decorations, music, shopping, cards, and all kinds of other things that no one thinks that much about the rest of the year suddenly become the main focus of life (or at least it seems like that).  Not that any of those things are bad (except maybe the music *shudder* that gets piped into stores like the one I work in constantly and makes me a little extra cynical-- not carols mind you, which are about Jesus, but just songs... meaningless, mindless, repetitive, and totally empty.  This has been my bah humbug Christmas moment. We now return to the regularly scheduled blog [and sentence] already in progress), it's just that I feel like they all get done without any thought involved.  This is what we're supposed to do now, so it has to be done.

I guess I just don't like it when Christmas becomes a to-do list.  No wonder people are so stressed out and angry.  There's a whole load of extra things they suddenly have to take time out of their busy lives to accomplish!  What's worse, the whole process has (in many cases) been so completely divorced from the deeper meaning it was supposed to have that it has to leave many people scratching their heads as to why they run themselves into the ground trying to do it all.  I mean, the only possible way you could find out the real meaning of all this stuff from our "Christmas culture" is if you happen to listen to Linus in the Charlie Brown Christmas special-- which by some miracle, seeing as how it contains essentially the gospel message straight out of Luke, is still aired on secular tv every Christmas.

I'm going to stop right there before I start ranting about how secular culture is ruining Christmas by looking for it in all the wrong places.  I did that last Christmas (and it can be found in the archives of this very blog).  What I want to do instead is just ask the question that has been on my mind.

What if we could just throw the Christmas to-do list away?

Perhaps better stated, what if we should just throw the Christmas to-do list away?  Would we be able to do it?  Would we want to?  What if we really spent Christmas asking Christ how he wanted us to celebrate it?  What would he say?  Are we afraid of what he might say, so afraid that we won't even dare to ask?  How would it feel to be the only one in your family to be stemming the onrushing tide of tradition?

I guess that was more than one question.  I didn't realize how much was in that thought until I was writing it, but it's all what I've been thinking about.  And really, please do not hear me saying that tradition is somehow evil.  I think it often has great value, and Jesus himself instituted some traditions, most notably the sacrament of communion.  Speaking of communion, it seems like community and fellowship were things that Jesus cared about a lot more than material possessions.  Perhaps his answers to the questions of how we should spend Christmas would be along those lines?

Anyway, tradition isn't bad, but it is made for us, not us for the tradition.  All too often, I think, tradition becomes little more than a euphemism for blindly doing what we always have and an excuse for not involving Jesus in our decision-making processes.  All I know is, I did Christmas again this year.  Very little of it did I ask God about; some parts of it I liked, some I didn't.  I know it would be extremely hard for me to give up presents if God asked me to do that.  I just want to know that I would do it, and to be honest I can't say for sure.  I'd give up the music in a heartbeat, I know that much.  But what if I just put the whole process in his control?

Above all, I just want to be close enough to the heart of God to hear how he wants me to spend my time and money.  I hate the idea of doing things for no reason.  I want God to put on my heart the gifts to bring, just like he did for the wise men so long ago. I don't know what (if anything) he would have me change in my Christmas traditions for next year.  I just hope I listen.