OK this blog starts with an oxymoron of a title-but I really do both LOVE and HATE CHRISTMAS. OK, let's start off with the positive stuff first. Ever since I was a kid, I have loved Christmas-Black Friday, Hallmark Christmas cards, wrapping gifts,the lights,the trees, taking drives through spectacularly lit neighborhoods ,the decorations,the sounds, the smells (especially of baked goods), the crowds at the malls,carolling with other kids and learning how dicey my voice is, Christmas songs, and the anticipation of Christmas morning-yea I'm a Christmas junky! I would keep up the tree up all year long if I could afford the electric bill. And ever since my sons were little, I would start looking for gifts in October, and like most parents I will make sure the piles under the tree were equal in number....Now for the flip side.......I also kinda HATE Christmas. I hate the self-serving commercialism promulgated by most businesses and industries this time of year. I hate the emphasis on buying as many gifts as you can afford for people, and hoping you get some if not alot back in return as well. I hate the fact that I cannot afford to buy as much stuff as I wish for my sons, and that even though they are grown men they don't get things from many people, in that we/they come from a small and rather ungiving family. I hate the fact that I see kids (at least I used to) want a certain Christmas gift so badly that if they don't get it, the world sucks and they don't want anything else. And I really hate the fact that I seem to be rushing and running around(not the running I like LOL) like a chicken with its head cut off at this time of year. And instead of going to Christmas parties everywhere, wouldn't it be better to take that time and money and give to a charity or volunteer in a shelter or soup kitchen? In short, I hate the fact that the world-and I confess me too at times-forget and neglect the true meaning of Christmas. And for me the worse part of Christmas is that the loneliness of being single is really brought to the forefront for some reason, in that no matter how much I focus on giving to and serving others, it still sucks being alone during a holiday which seems to focus so much on couples and their parties......Ah the true message or meaning of Christmas-I will try not to bore you with eloquent waxing or quintessential quips. But Christmas is but a simple message of joy, truth and grace-that God loved us so much that He sent his son Jesus to live among us, and to show us how to love and ultimately how to restore a long-severed relationship with God. It really is that simple. But somehow, despite burgeoning church attendance around December 25 and a plethora of religious Christmas cards and paraphernalia, Christ has been lost on Christmas, and has been taken out of the holiday. So this year, Im gonna try to focus more on something which has become a cliche in evangelical Christian circles, yet too is simple nomenclature-I'm gonna try to give people "More of Jesus" this Christmas. How I'm gonna do that I am not sure-it will take a concentrated and serious re-reading of the Gospels, and alot of prayer. All I know is that I want to give my sons and friends and people around me a little more of Jesus this year-maybe that means I have to bake more (and I make wicked Tollhouse cookies), smile more,spend more of my not that precious time talking with others, let people ahead of me in line more in stores, give more (or anything to be honest) to the Salvation Army kettle. I dunno-all I do know is that for me, Christmas is about celebrating the greatest and most cataclysmic event in human history-the birth of Christ, and sharing the reality, joy and meaning of that event with others in my daily life. Please Lord Jesus give me the strength and ability and perseverance to do just that-and maybe just maybe I will have the merriest Christmas of all this year...
