Our Christmas Rebellion
Well it finally happened, something snapped, something gave, something changed and we may never look back. Around Thanksgiving or was it Heck-o-ween, the fingers of Christmas future began to reach out to us with increasing reminders of the Blessed Event for commercial retailing.
My wife and I experienced a growing resentment of having the Great Commercial Holiday thrust at us from ads, displays, and mail. And as the days passed, we purposed in our minds to join the RESISTANCE MOVEMENT against Commercial Christmas.
"HERETICS!, GRINCHES!, RETAIL ABUSE! " -they screamed at us as the evening news reported slower than normal sales and Wall Street stood by trembling at the thought that the Great Billions of Christmas would not arrive.
The pressure mounted with each passing day.
Conversations are hurried as rushed is the pace, can I get it all done whenI leave my workplace?
Get a tree, make a gift list, check it thrice, add or diminish names of the naughty and nice.
Check credit card balances and the checking account too, Calculate future payments for all that you do.
Baked goods for the neighbors, family, and friend, parties and calories, treats without end.
The days dwindle down yet the intensity grows, Can you get it all done? don't forget the bows.
Somwhere I read where the commercial assault under the guise of celebrating the birth of Christ on Dec. 25th did not become the Retail Celebration of cash flow untill from the late 1940's untill now. Dec. 25th is a very, very dubious date more in line with the pagan celebration of the winter solstice rebirth of the SUN, than that of Jesus Christ. But we were all taken captive by the allure of satisfying Little Alfonso's toy bin with the goodies he saw advertised on TV that are surely the things that will make him eternaly happy, a better citizen, and a straight A student.
And while we were in the "church" we happily participated in the Great Season and gave loud lip service to remembering CHRIST! (as if Christians needed a booster shot). We helped with elaborate, well rehearsed church pageants, re-enactments, and decorated the "church" with a nice tree and the appearance of Santa while the little ones excitedly sang "Here Comes Santa Claus". I can't remember if Santa gave an altar call as he passed out gifts to the kiddies and reminded them to come back at Easter for more.
Well you know enough about us that we left all that "Church" scene, Santa included, a few years back. All well and good, but we still are in this world and, ho-ho-ho, what is a Santa intolerant Christian to do?
So this year we walked a few more steps away from Christian conformity to this present world.
It started in our attic where there was BOXES of decorations. I told my wife "we got way too much of this stuff, it runs up our electric bill, gets dusty and musty, and it wastes a lot of time. My goal was a 50% reduction in decorations. With every box assigned to the trash or give-away pile, we both felt better. OK, like we did keep some of the kids school momentos, and an assortment of various seasonal items, but it all became very low key, and there will be fewer survivors going back into the attic this year. Santa had been given the boot many years ago, in fact, we never taught our kids the lie that Santa exists. Which did not make our kids heroes when they told that to other school kids.
We also forsook (shudder) buying a tree. But sitting here on Dec 26th, and the get together with relatives we visited out of town being over, our no-tree Chrisitmas doesn't hurt at all. In fact, NOT seeing the sight of a sad, barren, post-Christmas tree actually is really nice.
My dear wife and I also agreed we would not gift each other, and that has turned into another positive. When we talked about it, we both agreed neither of us had lacked in receiveng numerous and various expressions of love throughout the year, inspite of the commercials portraying the pretty wife about to pass out when she saw the new car or the $3,000 diamond ring.
Although we did allow our three almost grown children to each receive one gift, we let them know we were scaling way back. We also reciprocated to a neighbor or two in the form of some baked goods. I must say, the sense of liberty we felt this year is remarkable and further encourages our enthusiam to more (less- that is) of the same next year. And having ZERO payments or bills to payoff is an added bonus. VIVE le rebellion!
But I wanted to save the best for last.: Because we are not self-righteous or militantly legalistic about our growing rebellion against the Great Commercial Holiday, nor do we want to flaunt our anti-commercial Christ-mass in anyone's face, we gladly gathered with family in a neighboring city for Christmas Day dinner. Kind of like Paul when he said "to the Jews I became as a Jew, under the law... in order that I might win some".
Before leaving, we spent time in prayer and I really desired something different in our gathering. I remember asking God to let "the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost" verse be manifested in us. On the drive over, we prayed some more, and we even "bound" any negative spirits, words, or attitudes from spoiling our time together. After arriving, we all prayed over our meal and had a very harmonious and loving visit.
Towards the end of the evening, the kids had their gifts and my aging in-laws gave each of us a token of their love in the form of a gift to each adult and child. Afterwards as the younger adults started playing board games, and others were in conversation, I watched as my wife got up to hug and thank her parents. Quickly I got up and went with her as first she hugged her dad, then her mom, saying thank you, I followed suit.
For the first time in our 24 years of marriage, I went beyond the normal manly handshake we always did, and hugged Dad's neck, saying "I love you". Then I did the same with Mom. A few moments later it was evident they had been moved by a sincere expression of love that I knew came from the Lord Himself through us.
For me those moments of expressing love instantly became an imcomparable precious treasure in our memory bank, and maybe a small window into what God meant when He said "For God so loved..."
Soon all the decorations, baking, and to-do list-chasing will be as faded as the memory of who played in last years Super Bowl, but the memory of a hug and an "I love you" will remain a shining star forever.
May God's Grace and Peace be upon each of you.
-rory
