Keeping the Holidays as Holy Days

Dana Campbell

The joy of brightening other lives,
bearing each others' burdens,
easing other's loads and
supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts
becomes for us the magic of Christmas.

W. C. Jones

The days are shorter this time of year and life seems to take on a much faster pace. Slowing down hardly seems an option and remembering the true reason we celebrate Christmas can be difficult to keep at the front of our minds.

How do we muddle through this holiday season? How do we keep in the forefront of our thoughts that Christ is the reason?

Like many families, we struggle with the constant reminders of department store Christmas trappings that appear even before Halloween decorations are packed away. And like other children, our 3½-year-old Drew is becoming more aware of presents and Santa Claus. It is our job to gently guide him back to remembering Jesus.

With such a long commercial 'Christmastime,' our family tries to delay our celebration of the season until Advent. Drew has an advent calendar that uses the nativity scene to count down the days until Christmas. He enjoys taking out one figure each day from the numbered pockets and putting the angels and the animals, shepherds and wise men in their places, saving Baby Jesus for the 24th. We also found a sturdy wooden nativity set that he could play with—he arranges the figures and talks about who they are, and Baby Jesus is always leading the parade!

In the midst of shopping, baking, wrapping, and decorating, our family attempts to concentrate on the reason for the holiday. It helps to talk about how much we love the people for whom the goodies and gifts are intended and to talk about Jesus' love for us and for all His children around the world.

We are trying to involve Drew more and more in the spirit of giving. We recently had an exchange that made Drew realize that not all children had toys. After this information sank in, he decided that we should give some of his Christmas toys to kids who might not have very many. One opportunity we will have is the toy donation during the Christmas pageant.

What is our plan for church during this time of year? How do we keep the holidays 'holy days?'

To help keep our focus, we make a commitment to church-centered activities of the season. Our church offers many programs to keep our spirits buoyed this time of year. The making of the Advent Wreaths and the ornaments for the Jesse Tree are always well received. There is the Christmas pageant as well as the Children's pageant in the Chapel. There will be Christmas caroling this year and the annual Christmas Poetry Gathering. Additionally, Gretchen Jordan will be offering an Adult Education class entitled “Unplugging the Christmas Tree” and Karen Kingsolver is offering “Staying Close to God.” Both of those offerings will be wonderful ways to reconnect to the church during this hectic season.

Please share good ideas that your family uses to keep Christ at the center of our Christmas with others in our parish. May the joys of Christ's season be yours.