Merry Christmas!

Phew! It has been a while since I last posted. This is a crazy time of year for me, and unfortunately a tough time of year. Not everyone relishes the build-up to Christmas.

Now, I love Advent – the waiting, the traditions and so on. Without Advent, Christmas day just wouldn't feel right. It's all the rest of the season that drags me down – Christmas cards and gifts for my customers (though this year I had help with that!), getting the tree and decorating it and the house, and the shopping for gifts.  All that happens at the same time as my busy-time at work, so it's sort of a double-whammy.

I did a lot of my shopping online this year – but there are those times I had to go out and spend a few hours in traffic to get an hour of shopping done. It was sad, really, to see how the hustle and bustle and traffic turned people into Grinches - honking horns, getting stuck in the intersection when the light changes, stalking shoppers to their car to get their parking space and so on. It's not all bad, I understand that; but for a busy introvert pulled between work, family, and tradition it sure can be overwhelming at times.

At times through the season, I took breaks and watched folks and considered the Christmas situation. And I had plenty of time to consider things while waiting in traffic. Often I simply wondered what God thought about all this; what did God think of what's become of the celebration of the Incarnation? Driven by love and a desire to be with us, God became human, born into poverty in a barn, or a cave depending on who you read. Now, that is something to celebrate once you think about it for a while. God with us – Emmanuel.

It wouldn't be fair to ask what God thought about all this and not put the question to myself: what do I think about this Christmas situation? Well, I find plenty of irony in the whole thing, and I don't claim to be free from it either. Jesus told disciples to sell what they had so they could better follow him, yet Christmas giving seems to have become fairly materialistic. We give to some people out of a sense of obligation just so they can be marked off the list, and that superficiality doesn't fit with the idea of giving gifts out of love. Some people, probably far too many, get stressed out with shopping or go into debt to buy the presents they think are required, and that doesn't sound like much of a celebration to me. And then there is the stress for many when too-distant family members clash during the many gatherings at or around Christmas.

But this is the season of love, when Love came down to dwell with us. I think we don't pay enough attention to that. So here's my Christmas wish for all – that we all listen a little closer to Love, feel a little closer to Love, and that we have the courage to let Love loose in our lives. Merry Christmas to all!

Comments

[jim]

Good looking family, Steve! Somewhere, in all the madness, it's best to do as you suggest: fall back into His love and put the restof it into His hands. You and yours have a great Christmas.

Your comment over on my sight left me to wonder how often we did the same in my old church with no thought that any visitors might appreciate a release from the turn we took in the service.....

[KiwiNomad06]

No snow here steve;-) Merry Christmas!

[crystal]

Nice photo! :-)

[MDea]

Beautiful family, Steve! Merry Christmas to all of you,

Meg/Talmida

[Victor Savard]

What more could I add but Love and Happy Birthday Jesus! How old did You say You were?

Merry Christmas to you Steve, your helpful family and the best to all your readers.

God Bless All His Children

[Steve Bogner]

Thanks all - we did have a nice Christmas day. We went to midnight mass, and it was one of the best I've ever been to. And yes, it is a beautiful family :)

Victor - I'm 41.

[Cura]

Merry Christmas Steve! A question I've asked myself for many Christmases now. Glad you had a happy Christmas.

[ms]

christmas as the birth of christ ... Christ mas ... not a problem.
it's the family stuff that gets in the way and more and more lately, the craziness of people doing and not being... my daughter is out of the country so we skipped the rituals/traditions of christmas...i never liked chrsitmas anyway...way too much weirdness and dysfunction growing up to allow of anything good or that one would want to recall, etc ... but i did all the stuff for my child bc she never did anything to deserve a lousy christmas...without her here, it seemed only natural to skip again ... so we had a nice quiet day with a simple dinner and time to reflect, think and be together...i really miss my daughter but otherwise it was ok...being able to bypass the crazy frantic ugly that comes out this time of year?
priceless
glad you were able to have a nice christmas with your family