Always Winter, Never Christmas

Our Sunday school class and youth group went together to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe last Saturday. The movie was very good and seemed to me to be faithful to the book. The line which really stood out to me from both the book and the movie is "Always winter; Never Christmas."

I was reading a blog yesterday written by a mom who took her elementary-aged son to see the movie. She said that he hadn't been raised with the "Christian mythos," so he only saw the movie as a fantasy, without the symbolism that Christians attach to it. I think that sometimes we do the same thing to Christmas. I think that it would be a very empty holiday without Christ in it. I wonder how those who are not part of the "Christian mythos" (as the woman so cynically put it) survive the holiday -- really, what would be the point? I also think that even we Christians sometimes strip away the Christ-celebration from the holiday in our efforts to make it "perfect."

As I read different blogs across "blogland" I see a lot of evidence of this affliction. One person today said she was knitting for Xmess. Another, a few days ago, was obviously struggling through the season as she suffered through divorce. Haven't you ever felt that way? As if winter would continue forever, unrelieved by Christmas? Sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in the holiday, that we miss the holiday altogether.

It sounds trite; it sounds cliche, but it is so true. What is Christmas after all, if we celebrate it as a holiday, and forget the purpose? It becomes everybody's birthday, celebrated all on one day, with lots of decorations. It might sound pretty good on the surface, but it is just a recipe for Xmess.

We talked at Emmaus about a God-sized hole in our lives. Christmas, for those who don't believe in God, or who miss God in the season, must seem like an unrelieved winter -- without Christ, it's just stress. I have very little shopping done; we have one tree decorated, and one tree with ONLY lights (I kind of like it that way), and nothing wrapped. We still need to send gifts to S's brother and family, plus my Dad. However, I'm trying to remember the Christ in Christmas. I'm thinking about Christmas, I'm listening to carols, I'm reading my Bible (another legacy from Emmaus -- I said I would, so I am). The four of us (S, the boys and me) drove around the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago with hot chocolate and music to look at the decorations. We didn't plan it; it just happened, and it was great. Last night, I stayed at church and listened to the choir rehearse music for this Sunday -- it was wonderful. Stress told me that I should have been shopping or hanging decorations on our bare tree; Christ told me to stay and listen, so I did.

Everything else will get done, but I don't want a God-sized hole in Christmas. I don't want always winter, never Christmas. I don't have to make it perfect; God already did that. I think that unless I make a deliberate decision to ignore the voice of stress, and pay attention to the voice of God, I won't find Christmas; I'll be in an Xmess.