It's Christmas. Isn't It Wonderful?

I mentioned in last Sunday morning’s conversation that my mother hasn’t put up any kind of Christmas tree for years. The only thing that would suggest that my mother is celebrating Christmas is the nativity scene, a set that has always been a part of our family’s Christmas, which she has set up on her kitchen table. It’s not that she isn’t into Christmas it’s just that she doesn’t have a huge need to fill her apartment with lights and bulbs.

It’s possible that part of her attitude toward Christmas decorations goes back to her childhood. She told me that when she was a child there were no decorations in their home until Christmas day. Santa Claus brought everything with him on Christmas Eve and so she woke up on Christmas morning to a house that had been transformed overnight. Her childhood Christmas tree had candles instead of electric lights and they were only lit for a very brief time so she didn’t really have a lot of childhood memories of rooms full of Christmas baubles.

To be fair, my mother isn’t the only one who has decided not to over decorate for the holidays. I’ve run into a number of people (mostly older people) who have decided they didn’t want to bother with a tree and lights and I’m OK with all of that. After all we keep trying to remind people that Christmas is about more than the decorations and the parties.

However, over the years I have always thought it was kind of sad to not decorate for the day, which gives you an idea of how important the lights and baubles have become to me. It’s not that I need them “spiritually.” I don’t need lights and balls and evergreens to celebrate the birth of Jesus. My relationship with Him is not built upon tradition; it is built upon a spiritual connection that is bigger than anything I can hold in my hand.

But, I am afraid that I need them “emotionally.” They have become a link to the memories I have of Christmases past. In my head they are attached to footie pajamas, transformers and Nintendo games; to times when my children were small and there was wonder in their eyes. It’s kind of scary to think that strings of lights and balls of glass can have such a hold on my life, but they do.

The challenge for me (and maybe for all of us) is to keep the spiritual and the emotional parts of our lives straight. It doesn’t mean we have to sacrifice one in order to have the other, it just means that we need to see them for what they are. Like my mother, I don’t need the decorations to celebrate the birth of my Savior, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t important.

It might be best to remember that we are all complicated creatures and that Jesus understands the complications and is still willing to work in us, with us and through us. It’s Christmas. Isn’t it wonderful?