People who know me are probably quite used to hearing me bemoan Christmas before Thanksgiving. This year I've noticed something about those conversations. It's always been there but for some reason I hadn't noticed it. Those conversations almost universally turn into conversations where people bemoan the materialism that has been injected into Christmas and the lack of Jesus in Christmas.
That's a very different conversation than the one I started.
For some reason I was thinking about this as we drove home Friday and came up with the following opinions.
Does the materialism that surrounds Christmas bother me? Sure it does, but no more than the general materialism that runs through and drives our culture. For me it's not really an issue about Christmas. It's an issue about the central values that drive our society.
Now when it comes to "putting the Christ back in Christmas" I find myself amazingly ambivalent. We live in a secular society where the majority of people may well identify themselves as belonging to this or that religious group but in reality don't participate at any level in religion. There are other large segments that are actively involved in their religions but aren't Christians. Neither group is going to be celebrating the holiday that some seem to be missing.
Let us face the reality that there is more than one holiday called Christmas. On one hand we have the religious holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus and the coming promise of what can be. On the other hand we have a secular holiday celebrating family, generosity, and general goodwill and tolerance. That hardly seems to be something that anyone professing belief in any of the word's major religions should have a problem with.
Now I can hear some voices going "but they stole our holiday!"
My gut reaction to that is to say "get over it," but let's look at this dispassionately.
1. The holidays are not mutually exclusive nor do they have to detract from one another.
2. We stole the date and most of trimmings from various pagan groups.
3. Most of the language of the religious holiday is even borrowed from an older tradition.
I'm not going to go into details on these points. I'll simply say that I'm not worried that the secular holiday is going to steal members from the club.
So time for me to answer the question in the title - which Christmas to I celebrate?
Over the next few weeks I'll certainly spend some time pondering my faith, trying to understand how I can live it better, and looking for some new ways to see and understand it.
Also over the next few weeks I'll be seeing and talking to some family members I don't routinely see. I'll enjoy having Rich and Amber visit (at least most of the time). I'll get some decorations up. I may well do charitable acts I may not have otherwise gotten to. Maybe even smile at and greet a few strangers on the street.
I guess I'll celebrate both Christmas's.
