Yeah, we’re quite different.
As far as Christmas trees go, the last I heard, her tree
had been up for years, as in never taken down, while over here people think I’ve
decorated for Christmas when my tree isn’t even up!
Okay, I admit it, I have well over a hundred Nativities in
my front room alone. Needless to say, they are out all year long.
And that isn’t to say I have no other knickknacks in my apartment.
I have owls and eagles, and few other religious statues including one of Noah
and the Ark. I just have a much larger collection of Nativities.
And if you’re asking, Konnie collects Christmas villages and
Barbies. (Okay, yes, I have Barbie’s too, we started that collection together
as kids, but she has way more nowadays.)
I, on the other hand, have never really cared for those
Christmas villages. I mean I’d look at them in the stores, but never interested
enough to buy any, until I learned Konnie likes them.
Though giving and getting gifts isn’t the important part about
Christmas, neither are all the trees and lights. The important part is that
tiny babe in the manager.
I remember as a kid going downtown for Christmas shopping,
and I noticed several stores had “Merry X-Mas!” painted on their windows. My
first thought was about how our big sister (affectionately nicknamed
Dictionary) taught me how to spell Christmas.
She asked me to spell Christ, which I did, then she asked me to spell “mass”, which I also did. Finally, she said, “Now put them together, but drop the last 's'.”
I have never misspelled the word since! But on seeing those
signs saying “X-Mas” I said, “They’re taking the Christ out of Christmas!”
It was so wrong! It’s still so wrong!
I hate to see that, drives me nuts.
It doesn’t bother me when someone says, “Happy Holidays!”
because I know there are several other holidays around this time. And it is a
time to be happy, no matter what holiday you celebrate. That’s no big deal, but
taking the Christ out of Christmas, that’s huge and unacceptable.
Not too long ago, I went to talk with my bishop (my pastor
if you will), it was the usual annual chat every bishop does with every member
of their ward (congregation), but well, he is a new bishop, and so it was a get
to know you kind of chat this year, and at some point, he asked if I’d decorated
for Christmas yet.
“No, but you might think so if you entered my living room.
Everybody does,” I said, then explained about my collection.
He beamed, “At least your focus is in the right place.”
Yeah. It’s kind of hard to forget the reason for the season
when the reason for the season decorates my little apartment all year long.
And I know this last year has been hard on a lot of people,
COVID, the shutdowns, everything, it's been a pain, and I see a lot of people
who are having trouble finding the Christmas spirit. Not a whole lot of places
are decorated, and I know plenty of people are still struggling.
I’m sure, if we didn’t have to wear those darn masks all the
time, I’d see a lot of frowns. I do see a lot of slumped shoulders and listless
walking.
Not a lot of people saying “Merry Christmas,” or “Happy Holidays,”
these days.
My sister-in-law said it best when she told me, “It didn’t feel like Christmas.”
And she said that with snow on the ground!
She was equating Christmas with trees, lights, brightly
wrapped presents, and all the commercial dressings of the season.
That isn’t Christmas.
Christmas is that babe in the manager who grew up to be that
man suffering in Gethsemane and on Calgary. Christmas is about celebrating the
love Heavenly Father has for everyone by sacrificing his Only Begotten Son to
save us all.
Christmas is as much about the Atonement as Easter is
because without Christmas, there would be no Easter!
Without the gift of His Only Son, we wouldn’t have either
holiday.
So, Christmas isn’t about Santa and gifts any more than
Easter is about the Easter Bunny! And it isn’t about the anticipation of
opening gifts on Christmas morning, it's about what we’ve already been given.
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