Christmas

For to us a child is born,
to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

A few days ago I was reviewing some Christmas messages I have written. I hate to repeat myself too closely. Granted the message is the same year after year but if I state it the same way twice that could be bad. My kids already accuse me of being senile sometimes. While reviewing the messages I saw Christmas over the last few years. A lot of them deal with Mary’s feelings about the whole thing. That seemed right to me, as I am a mother and two of my sons were born either side of Christmas, one in the beginning of January and one at the very end of November. I can relate to Mary’s pregnancy on some level.

A few of the messages were about the commercialization of Christmas, the emphasis on the ordinary rather than the sacred. One of my favorites uses the image of my two granddaughters, Faith and Isabelle, then just a couple of months old. I speak of them shivering in the cold, dressed in snuggly clothes with a tent of blankets over their car carriers. I love that one because I can immediately see my two now six year old beauties as the tiny precious babies they were.

I have my favorites among the messages, of course, but what stood out to me was that almost every message points to the fact that too many of us, Christian and non-Christian alike “focus on the wrong part of the story.” I borrow that expression from my son Joseph and it fits perfectly here.

Christmas is about….wait for it…. Christ. I know there are plenty who would disagree and I get that, considering the number of movies, songs and books that are about Santa. I promise you, though it is about Jesus Christ. Look at the word, CHRISTmas. Ohhhh. I’m being a bit facetious here because if you are reading this then most likely you already knew that.

Even when we know it we can forget. Last year my granddaughter Faith learned a lot about Christmas in her Christian pre-school. For months she would only refer to Jesus as “Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.” The other day when a discussion came up with her younger sister Madelyn, who  was asking about the whole concept of the birthday on Christmas, Faith got a little perturbed. She couldn’t understand how Madelyn, who to her defense is four, could forget that it’s Jesus birthday. Madelyn forgot because she’s little and at her age, being inundated with Santa, it’s easy to forget the real reason we celebrate. As adults it is our responsibility to focus on the right part of the story while allowing our children and grands to enjoy the ho ho ho and jingle bells as well.

I love all the prep, all the movies and songs, all the gift giving and cookie baking but I love Jesus more. Christmas is referred to as the most wonderful time of the year but for all the wrong reasons. For us, it is the most wonderful time of the year for the reasons given in the Scripture above, because we were given our Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace.