Merry Christmas! Now, what is Christmas?

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

I've just spent over an hour watching the countdown of the nation's "favourite" Christmas song. (Fairytale of New York won, by the way.) I've also been ruining Mariah songs for the nearby public, calculated the percentage of Christmas light houses on my running route (50.9%, by the way), spent a significant amount of time searching for Christmas presents (and even more money), and I am currently sat watching Finding Nemo, having dabbled in channel-hopping The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe earlier. It can only mean one thing: Christmas.

 I don't know if it's the horrific weather or the whole "you feel less Christmasy as you get older" thing, but I am feeling less Christmasy, no matter how many times I re-watch the John Lewis ad, wear a Christmas jumper, or eat mince pies/drink mulled wine/both. But with all this seasonal busyness stressing over how to cook your potatoes or answering the age-old question of "What do I buy my dad for Christmas!?", I realise I have so little time to reflect on why we came about celebrating Christmas in the first place. 

 I'm no stranger myself to saying something along the lines of, "I just watched Love Actually. Now it's Christmas." So does Love Actually = Christmas? Or Elf, or Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone or "Other"? Nope it most certainly doesn't. But what is Christmas to me? It used to feel so much simpler to be a kid and recite lines from carols and the school nativity play about Christ being born and there being no room at the inn. However, the whole "you feel less Christmasy as you get older" applies here too. As a Christian, Christmas is about Christ being born and that being the start (and continuation, if you think about it) of something absolutely perfect; the best present. But truthfully, it's something so much easier to say and something not necessarily reflected in my actions. I guess I'm literally swept away by the Christmas of consumerism, like the very interesting video below shows. It was played at the Christmas service at church last week and definitely something to reflect upon.


Now, I'd be such a hypocrite if I said I didn't enjoy what Christmas is today and that presents (giving and receiving) don't bring a smile to my face. It's precious family time, too. However, I'd also be lying if I said all these things are the source of meaning. Yes they're traditions and are meaningful and have significant meaning. But I stand by the fact that they're all part of one bigger picture and one very small (but HUGE) little birthday all those years ago. I know all of these things, however it's not always at the forefront of my mind. Because I am swept away by everything else leaving no time to reflect. 

Actually, at work the other day, a friend came up to me and said something like, "Bev, do you ever have time to reflect?" Which stumped me. Genuinely, I can't say that I always do. Thinking about Christmas is just one example; writing this alone has been the largest form of Christmas-related reflection I've done for a very long time. New Year is coming up, traditionally associated with change and improvement and all that, and I know at least one thing on that list. And also the fact that it needs to belong in a life, not just a list. 

This is turning out to be a much deeper post than I thought. Even going back to the first paragraph, listing some of the festive fun, I came to the direct conclusion that it was Christmas:

"I've just spent over an hour watching the countdown of the nation's "favourite" Christmas song. (Fairytale of New York won, by the way.) I've also been ruining Mariah songs for the nearby public, calculated the percentage of Christmas light houses on my running route (50.9%, by the way), spent a significant amount of time searching for Christmas presents (and even more money), and I am currently sat watching Finding Nemo, having dabbled in channel-hopping The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe earlier. It can only mean one thing: Christmas."

But with my new-found reflection, I've been watching TV, singing out of tune, calculating useless statistics, am poorer, love Finding Nemo. There's got to be more than this...and there is. There definitely is. There's love, and there's a very special Christmas gift way cooler than all the ones under the tree: the gift of the love of Jesus. Now that's what Christmas means to me.

Merry Christmas - I hope it is filled with love and you get to spend it with those you love.

Love,
Bev xxx

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