Beyond Christmas

 December 19, 2022

It’s the last week of Advent; Christmas Day is fast approaching. We who celebrate the birth of Christ are quite likely to be disappointed when Christmas actually arrives, not because Jesus Christ is disappointing, but because we have made the day more than it actually is. We’ve added so much tradition, nostalgia, and hoopla that the simple birth of the Son of God gets buried under a pile of presents, to be tossed out like a used-up Christmas tree in January. 

I must confess that this is not the rant of an old Scrooge, although a good case could be made for that appellation. I get caught up in the anticipation, the gift-buying and wrapping, the decorations, old Christmas movies, caroling and gatherings just as much as anyone. The only holiday hoopla I don’t experience is the office party and alcohol. But the anticipation that builds through Advent is like fly paper; stuff sticks to it, so when Christmas finally gets here, it’s got all the other stuff hanging on, and like old fly paper, the only thing to do is throw it out. 

My more liturgical friends remind me that this is Advent, not Christmastide, that the latter extends from December 25 till Epiphany on January 6—the Twelve Days of Christmas. Advent is when we do a bit of soul searching, looking not back to the birth of Christ, but ahead to his Second Coming. We aren’t just remembering; we are anticipating. 

I have no desire to rob people of all the trappings that have built up around this time of year; I enjoy the lights and decorations and especially my wife’s delight in her Byers Choice carolers. But I know too, that once the gifts are all opened and the wrapping paper picked up, and the kids head for home, Christmas as we know it, is over. The only way to keep it alive is to be like Scrooge on Christmas morning after his ghostly visitations: to keep Christmas all year by modeling our lives in the image of God who simply gave, and keeps giving life and hope to all who will believe and trust in his Son. 

It takes a concerted determination of the will to move beyond all the secular mush of Hallmark movies to the hard work of loving others and giving of ourselves, but it is the only way Christmas won’t deflate and die on December 26. And the best way I know to do this is to give to someone or someones who can’t give in return. I have a few in mind, and know that this kind of giving is what will warm my heart and give me joy far beyond Christmas Day.