For just a moment I will set aside the real reasons for Christmas (don't worry, I will come back to that) but religion aside the majority of Americans are celebrating some form of Santa/Rudolf/presents/tree with lights and ornaments Christmas. Right? Nearly every house on our street is decorated with lights and those blow-up lawn reindeer. The mall parking lots are filled to the brim with people buying presents to exchange on Christmas Day. So what is the problems calling it Christmas music or Christmas decorations or Christmas cards? Why has it changed to be "holiday" everything. Look and listen today. I would be willing to bet 9 times out of 10 you will see or hear the word holiday in the place of the word Christmas.
That makes me sad, but my heart breaks for people who don't know this next part.
Every year it seems like less and less people know the real reason for celebrating Christmas. Christmas is the day that celebrates the birth of Jesus. The day we remember that the Savior of the World was born and in doing so fulfilled prophesies told hundreds of years prior. The day that we celebrate that God himself became fully human in the form of a helpless baby, to show us how much He loves us by living a human life and experiencing pain and joy just as we do. But Jesus didn't stay a baby! Without the birth of Jesus, there would have never been the death of Jesus, and without the death of Jesus, we all would have to face the consequences for our sins. But because that little baby was born over 2000 years ago, and later as a grown man was crucified on a cross, the penalty for our sins has been paid in full! Sounds like a reason to celebrate CHRISTmas to me!
When I was growing up, we would bake and decorate "Happy Birthday Jesus" cakes with my Grandmother. She would help us bake the cake and then get out all of her most special cake decorating tools and let us use anything we wanted to decorate our own little cake for Jesus. We would even sing Happy Birthday and have candles on the cakes. It may seem like a silly idea, but it helped all the grandkids remember that we were not celebrating presents or Santa or candy (although all of those things were there too!) but that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus.
And we always had a Christmas tree growing up, but my favorite decoration to help my mom unpack was her beautiful nativity scene. I loved unwrapping each piece and setting it up in the little barn. Each part was wrapped up with tissue paper, so as each one was unwrapped it was a surprise - sheep, camels, wise men, shepherds, Mary, angel, Joseph, little baby Jesus.
Well, I feel a little better getting that all off my chest - I realize not everyone will agree with me on this. However this is my blog, and my opinion. If you do disagree, and wish to comment, I ask that you are respectful and I reserve the right to remove any comments that I think are inappropriate.
To lighten the mood of this post I saw this picture the other day and thought it fit perfect with my venting today! My favorite one is #7 - totally ridiculous!
What do you do to keep Christ in Christmas in your house?
AND
Am I the only one to notice/be bothered by the fact that the word Christmas has disappeared?
It bothers me too... we make it a point to always say Merry Christmas wherever we're at - especially to sales people who arent supposed to be saying it.
ReplyDeleteMy office isnt much for the "relgious" side, but I still put a nativity on my desk.
What is really sad is that we have lost Advent. The Christmas season is really from Dec. 25th until Jan. 6. The devil has been trying to get rid of Christ and seems to be doing a good job of it. I am sad with you. Happy Advent season and a Blessed Christmas season to you and all of your blog readers.
ReplyDeleteI have a rather large collection of nativites. I love saying Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteFox news has been talking a lot about it. It is a very intentional thing being done.
ReplyDeleteWe do the Jesse Tree which is an advent celebration. Each day we read a devotional and then put up a matching ornament onto our cute little Jesse tree. Each day keeps you hanging onto the end which is Jesus being born. We also make a birthday cake for Jesus each year. We also don't do any santa as we feel it takes away from what this time is truly about.
I TOTALLY agree with you. It seems that our country has taken a huge and very quick turn away from Christ. I am praying for a huge revival because I don't think anything else can save our country.....not that it ever could!
ReplyDelete100% agree and I've noticed it so, so much and it makes me so much more aware of being sure I say Christmas instead of holiday.
ReplyDeleteWe have always had a birthday celebration for Jesus and now that we have the Grans it is so special. I even found paper products with Happy Birthday Jesus on them for this year's party.
We have got to all stick together and make sure that it stays Christmas and not Holiday!
Christmas blessings to you!
Amen, Friend, I agree with everything you've said! It is sad to me how no one can say MerryChristmas anymore - I say it all the time to my patients and no one has complained yet! I don't think it's a big deal to most people, but our country has been so trained to be "politically correct" that people are afraid to say anything besides Happy Holidays. And I love your paragraphs on the true meaning of Christmas - celebrating Jesus's birth!
ReplyDeleteP. S. I'm going to have to show the "politically correct Christmas carols" to my hubby - he'll have a good laugh!