"Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:18
"For unto you a Saviour is born, which is Christ the Lord" Luke 2:11
How did we get from celebrating the birth of our Lord, who was sent to save us from our sins and give us eternal life, to worrying about whether or not our child gets everything he/she wants from a fictitious character called "Santa Clause"? To answer that question, if it could be answered, is beyond the scope of both my simple blog and my simple brain. But it is a question that we should all ask ourselves. Somewhere over the last century we, as a dominantly Christian society, have perversed this most sacred holiday. Somehow we ended up worshiping the jolly fat man in the red suit and just occasionally paying homage to the true reason for the season.
We can blame this transformation on a number of things and people: our over-materialistic society, colorful and bright television ads aimed at our kids, our government who tells us spending money frivolously is somehow patriotic, or the ever popular blame - our parents. But the truth is, it is wrong and we know it. I rarely talk to my kids about the birth of Christ, but we spend plenty of time discussing how cool a certain toy is or how Santa gets down the chimney without getting stuck. To make matters worse, for all the sacrifices M and I have made (credit card debt, delayed bills, extra work hours, etc.) we received none of the credit... "Wow, look what Santa brought you this year honey. Oh no, your mommy and I had nothing to do with it. That nice stranger whom we've never met who lives in the North Pole brought it. He loves you so much that he worked his little elf slaves to near-death all year just to provide you and all the other "good kids" with everything your little hearts desired. Yeah, then he went out and trapped a bunch of damn flying reindeer, chained them up to big heavy sleigh and whipped the living shit out of them until they had carried his big lard ass to each and every house in the world in one night. Oh look, he was so busy he barely touched his milk and cookies." Luckily I don't let it get to me or hold any ill feelings about it.
As for me and my house... it will probably more of the same. But I am going to try and re-introduce Christ back into our Christmas. For example, this year I plan on having one of the boys read some of the biblical verses about the birth of baby Jesus and talk to them about what we "should" be celebrating. Next year, maybe a nativity scene on the front lawn and a visit to the church on Christmas Eve. Hey, it's a start.
Merry Christmas!
CJ
For The Kids
17 years ago
