Go Tell It on the Mountain

I am enjoying this Christmas season. It's both new and old each year. I have been thinking about how Christmas is different for me now (at 34) than it was 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 years ago. It's interesting to think about how perspective changes and richness is added.

I particularly enjoy taking out the tree ornaments and thinking about how each one was acquired and when. My Christmas tree isn't the most glamorous, but it's quite meaningful to me. My favorite ornament? Easy. It's the soft wooden pear with the silvery leaf. It was purchased maybe 10 years ago at the Discovery store, and was one of the first ornaments Quinn and I purchased together. There were three different ones bought that year, but the pear is my favorite.

These days I get a little caught up in the managment of Christmas- playing Santa, as it were. I enjoy creating surprises for others, but I have to remind myself that this should not be my main focus, no matter how generous and charitable a gift-giver I am. It's not the same as being Christ-centered; it's still too commercial and egotistical.

This year I followed my sister's example and made an advent calendar of activities for the family. Each day we pin an ornament on a Christmas tree wall-hanging and unfold a small piece of paper in the day's pocket to find the activity. They have been as simple as "sing 2 carols" or "watch Mr. Kreuger's Christmas". Some have been Christmas parties or local events like the gingerbread house exhibit, and some have been baking treats and taking them to the neighbors, or donations to the school food and gift drive. I was skeptical about my ability to keep this up for a month, but I've found it gives us a focus on the season and an excuse to do things together that we lack at other times of the year.

In the end, though, I suppose it is the Christmas Eve family ritual which is the real Christmas for me. Reading the scriptures together and singing songs and talking about our own feelings about Jesus... this is the worship service that matters most. It's the annual experience within our family which reinforces our bond and replenishes our faith in Christ. It's like the great climax of all the Family Home Evenings of the year. Without it, Christmas would be about me- and maybe you. But it isn't... and that's Good News indeed.