The Disenchanted Christmas

I wonder how many of you out there were disenchanted about Christmas this year. I was chatting with some of my friends online at Omega Letter and pretty much all of us were really disenchanted with Christmas this year. It was just not the same this year.

Most of us talked about how we enjoyed the giving of gifts but were less than enthused about the receiving of them and someone mentioned that maybe it was because Christmas has become so commercialized, especially this year. Another mentioned that maybe it is because we know that the gifts we give and receive aren’t permanent. They won’t last. I mentioned that in spite of what was going on in my life, I felt, well, hollow about the whole Christmas thing this year. Christmas just didn’t really ring true this year for me. For me, the very best part was watching Em open her gifts and her childish expressions of joy and excitement.

So many people are trying so hard to remove any association of Christ with Christmas. Without Christ, Christmas just becomes Mas – which in Espanol means more. It means nothing but greed and money and commercialization. More, more, more, gimme more!

Along with the greed, the removal of the birth of Jesus, the name of Christ and the true meaning of Christmas meant that a lot of schools this year didn’t have Christmas pageants b/c they couldn’t sing carols b/c most carols mention the Holy birth, baby Jesus and/or his mother Mary, the gift of God. One school in Wisconsin also changed the words to Silent Night, the most recorded song in history, but later recanted after they received such backlash across the country from it.

The original lyrics to the beloved carol are:
Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin, mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace

The replacement lyrics were:
Cold in the night, no one in sight,
Winter winds whirl and bite,
How I wish I were happy and warm,
Safe with my family out of the storm.

Many schools also had no decorations up b/c they didn’t want to “offend” anyone (yeah, anyone except Christians). The same Wisconsin school had decorations for Santa Claus, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah Menorah displays and La Befana – an Italian Christmas witch who had turned her back on visiting the baby Jesus stating she was too busy, but no allowances were made for a manger or a Christmas tree. And forget calling it a Christmas break anymore. That has the word “Christ” in there and we can’t have the children remembering what is really celebrated at Christmas...or who. It’s a winter break.

How can little kids get truly excited about Christmas if there is nothing there in the schools that can be used to get them into the Christmas spirit? I remember when I was in school they had BIG Christmas trees, decorations of red and green rings in a paper chain, snowflake cutouts from the kids, a nativity set and more. Christmas was hyped up when I was in school. There was nothing shameful, wrong or offensive back then about celebrating Christmas in schools and all over as it’s meant to be celebrated.

Christmas items started appearing in many stores at the end of September/beginning of October already this year. What happened to everything rolling out at Thanksgiving time to give children and adults alike something to really look forward to? When it becomes so commercial and it’s all about the money, Christmas starts to lose its thrill and enchantment and excitement. It almost becomes just another day instead of the celebration that it’s supposed to be.

For a company who gets it right and deserves your patronage, check out the link below. They are from Hobby Lobby, Mardel and Hemispheres stores (owned by the same company). Hobby Lobby and its affiliated stores are owned and run by Christians. They run these ads in newspapers every Christmas since 1997 (a couple are repeats). Full page ads too so that nobody can miss them. They have a customer for life in me b/c they GET what Christmas is all about - and Easter which they have a whole different group of ads posted on their site.

1997-2004 Christmas and Easter ads
2005 Christmas ad Except in the newspapers the 2005 one was in black and white.

If everyone GOT IT like they GET IT, then Christmas wouldn't be so commercial and political and we just might be able to recapture some of the magic and mystery of Christmas once again. We could take our holiday back from the liberal secularists who want nothing to do with the meaning behind Christmas and who don’t want anyone else to celebrate, much less remember, the Higher meaning behind the celebration of the Christmas season. The birth of Jesus Christ, God coming to earth in human form to give us the hope and the gift of eternal life. To die so that we wouldn’t have to.

Regardless of what your personal belief is, the reality is that even though our bodies may die, our souls will live on forever in one of two places (there will be a lot of very surprised people on the day of their death to find this out). Because of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, we have the hope of life eternal in a place where there is no more greed, no more fear, no more tears, hurt, anger, bitterness or betrayal, where we can worship and fellowship with millions of people, where there is nothing but peace and love and rest – heaven. Without that gift and that hope, turning our back on it b/c of disbelief, intellectual and/or mental pride, or any other myriad reasons, we are doomed to an eternal life apart from God, where our sins, or hurts, our betrayals and all the things that have been done to us will be replayed in our minds forever. We are doomed to be weighted down by our sins and relive them eternally, gnashing our teeth in agony – Hell. I don’t know about you, but the first choice sounds pretty good to me and the only reason that we have that choice is because of the birth of Jesus, the real reason we celebrate Christmas in the first place.