The Spirit of Christmas

I'm getting a lot of flak over the fact that I don't want to decorate for Christmas, do the usual let's get excited dinner, etc.  This is the second holiday season in a row that has truly sucked and I don't feel like doing the fake commercial thing.  What is so wrong about not wanting to put up thousands of lights and a tree and all the other stuff only to turn around a few weeks later and have to clean all that up?  Is that what Christmas is all about?



Naysayers will say no, Christmas is about the birth of Christ and the spirit of the season.  Ok, where does it say we have to celebrate the season with a bunch of decorations, putting up with relatives we can't stand the rest of the year, and going into debt to make everyone happy?

John MacArthur, Jr. said:
If you're like me, you've heard the world's comments and evaluations of this time of the year. And one of the phrases that you hear a lot is the "Christmas spirit, we need to have the Christmas spirit."And, of course, I began to think about that being somewhat analytical, just what is the Christmas spirit? And I suppose there are a lot of potential answers to that question. To Scrooge the Christmas spirit was a ghost. To the liquor industry the Christmas spirit comes in a bottle, somewhere around $75 million worth this month in America. Some people feel that the Christmas spirit is somehow the truce that takes place in the family where nobody brings up the issues, the quarrels. I suppose for some people the Christmas spirit is expressed in a card that conveys a sentiment of well being. Ninety-five percent of all Americans will be involved in sending five billion plus Christmas cards expressing these sentiments.
One little boy suggested that the Christmas spirit is really contentment because that's what you need to be when you don't get what you want. For some people the Christmas spirit is an attitude of happiness found in the fellowship of friends, or the party spirit while consuming 10 million to 15 million turkeys. For many, however, the Christmas spirit is not so trivial or so frivolous or so fun. For many the Christmas spirit is one of profound sadness, increased depression because all that is wrong in your life is then measured against the hilarity of the time and seems even more profoundly painful.
As one poet put it in a very personal expression of pain, "Christmas is a bitter day for mothers who are poor. The wistful eyes of children are daggers to endure. Though shops are crammed with playthings enough for everyone, if a mother's purse is empty there might as well be none." And then the poet ended with these words, "My purse is full of money but I cannot buy a toy, only a wreath of holly for the grave of my little boy." And Christmas is like that for some people.
For others it's a time for saying thanks for some very basic things. G. K. Chesterton years ago said, "When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings with toys at Christmas, why are we not grateful to God for filling our stocking with legs?"
Mostly though, I guess the spirit of Christmas is giving presents, if the mall is any indication. Billions of dollars of worth as a result of people colliding and careening around in crowded stores, everything from nickel candy to multi-million dollar pieces of jewelry and everything in between and stuffing stockings and wrapping packages. And the spirit of Christmas, they tell us, is giving. And that's all right. I'm no Scrooge. I don't want to rain on anybody's parade. But I would just like to get down to the core of this deal...what is the true spirit of Christmas? Is it fun? Is it fellowship? Is it giving? What is it? 


So, when you're spending days this Christmas season decorating your house, making it smell nice and preparing the big dinner for all this relatives you really can't stand, remember that not everyone shares your enthusiasm.  There are many people out there that feel they have nothing to celebrate about.  Unemployment is rampant and even those that are employed are feeling the pinch.  Christmas presents are not as plentiful as they have been in the past.  And the sad thing is that way too many people will be depressed and feel like failures because they can't buy, buy, buy.

We are all responsible for creating this monster, and I for one, am getting off the roller coaster of holiday cheer.  I will not decorate this year and I will not feel guilty about it.  I can remember the reason for the season without a bunch of lights.  I will not be going into debt, buying presents this year.  Instead, I will try to be a better person around the people I love all year long.  I will not do the big Christmas dinner with people I can't stand.  Instead, I will enjoy the season with the people that matter to me.

This is my promise to myself and I will not feel guilty.  And I hope that every one of you will celebrate Christmas the way you want to and not feel guilty.



Merry Christmas.