Christmas Time

Merry Christmas!!

More than one person this year has told me they are becoming some what of a "scrooge" about Christmas. I think they have a good reason to be.

There are some things I enjoy about Christmas. My fiance's love languages include gifts, so I know that it is a time that I get to remind her that I am in fact thinking about her when she is not around. Now that I don't live at home, it is really great to spend concentrated time with my family. Travel, while stressful at times, is mostly adventurous.

But I am beginning to be overwhelmed with this nagging feeling that a solid 65% of the things that I do surrounding Christmas have little or nothing to do with the "reason for the season"... (and by typing that, I think I threw up in my mouth a little bit).

I don't think this feeling is limited to Christmas either. Bunnies and little fluffy yellow chicks have more to do with Easter than death and resurrection.

Others have felt this discontentment. They have stared movements like the advent conspiracy. While this is a great movement, I get the feeling that this can at times pull the focus of Christmas to a third meaningful, yet ancillary direction. The logic goes something like, "we want people to see Christmas as selfless, so let's pull the conversation towards redirection of funds towards social causes." While I would never say that social causes aren't important, it is also a divergence from the true nature of the season.

The center of Christmas is not anything else we have made it.
It is the irony of the incarnation, the fulfillment of promise, and it is the beginning of the end.

I guess I want a holiday or a time of year or something that will remind me of how wonderful this is and so often this holiday is about so many other things.