Bah Hum Bug

UPDATE: Apprently Our Daily Bread is thinking about this topic, too.  Read Presents or Presence?.

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Original post follows…

My kids: Mom, why don’t we decorate like that? (Pointing to a beautifully lighted house complete with candles in the windows, wreaths on the doors, and an inflatable Santa rocking on horse…yes, it was actually rocking back and forth.)

Mom:  Kids, we can barely manage to keep up with laundry let alone clean the bathroom, vacuum, and dust.  When in the world do you think we would hang Christmas lights?  Additionally, all of the decorations need to be stored the other 11 months of the year.  Where do you suppose we do that?

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One of my kids: Mom, when are we going to start getting ready for Christmas?  Nana and Pops (who live in an apartment connected to our house AND hung Christmas light on their porch while we were away for Thanksgiving) are getting ready.  Why aren’t we?

Mom:  What do you call that Christmas prayer chain hanging on our chandelier?  Besides, we’re getting our tree this weekend, does that count?

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It’s not that I want to be a Scrooge or a Grinch.  I’m actually as big of a fan of Christmas lights as the next person.  But overall I feel the need to push back against our culture that is out to make as much money as possible off of us this holiday shopping season and convince my children that they are entitled to a truckload of toys and gifts that will sit relatively untouched in my basement until we deem them old and discarded enough to give away.  I think the baby Jesus would be cringing in his manger to know that the celebration of his birth has become not about his birth at all.  This season we’re trying (‘trying’ being the keyword) to let our children be excited and enjoy the season but also instill in them that it is, in fact, better to give than receive as we celebrate the birth of the Ultimate Giver. 

I love this song by Matthew West and Amy Grant that describes how I wish Christmas would always be treated.

I’d love to know how you’re preparing (or not preparing) for Christmas this year.  Join the discussion in our BlogFrog community on the right hand side.

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P.S. Let me know that it’s snowing for the first time of the season as I write this.