Keeping Christmas

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving Day. We saw Macy’s Christmas Parade which officially begins the Christmas season and tomorrow is the first Sunday of the Advent Season. "Advent" means "coming" and it refers to the coming of the Christ child to Bethlehem. The church begins four Sundays before Christmas to help us get ready to celebrate the birth of the Savior.

Advent says: "Something wonderful is about to happen. Get ready so you don’t miss it. Expectation and waiting heightens the meaning of that which is anticipated.

Every year I begin a journey on the first Sunday of Advent, a quest to be captured by the "real spirit of Christmas." Christmas is not about consumption of material things. No, it has to do with the human spirit made strong by God who comes (Advent!).

Christmas is about good will and family closeness. It is about kindness and generosity. In short, it has to do with spirit, not material. Every year, I try to immerse myself with music, drama, literature, and movies that move the heart toward a certain spirit at Christmas time.

Here are some of the things I do each year. I watch "It’s a Wonderful Life" staring James Stewart and "Miracle on 34^th Street." I try to find a company nearby putting on the "Nutcracker Suite." I read or see a dramatic production of Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol," and I am present at my church for our children’s Christmas music and dramas and I feast on our Adult Choir’s cantata. And usually, I have the opportunity to host out-of-town friends in a tour of our "Wonderland of Lights."

And very importantly, some time during the Advent Season, I try to do something for someone who can not return the favor. I choose an activity that costs me of my most precious commodity - my time. My Christmas gift is aimed at picking someone’s spirit up, of giving hope.

As a result of the above activities, I almost never miss the "Christmas spirit." Of course with a name like "Hollie," I guess I have a "leg up" on all of you except those of you named "Joy."

Sadly, it is possible for a person - for a family to miss Christmas. Some missed that first Christmas: A king did. Apparently an inn keeper did. Religious leaders did and so did a host of others.

Herein lies the frightening possibility of Christmas 2003. We can miss the promise of Christmas. We can take part in the activities that celebrate the birth of one who was more than just an ordinary baby and be our same old selves. I pray not!

Henry Van Dyke reminds us of what it means to "catch the Christmas spirit," which he calls Keeping Christmas - "Are you willing to forget what you have done for other people, and remember what other people have done for you; . . . to put your rights in the background, your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do more than your duty in the fore ground; . . . to stop asking how much your family and friends love you, and ask whether you love them enough; . . . are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can KEEP CHRISTMAS."

Now my question to us is this, "If we can KEEP CHRISTMAS for a day, why not keep it all through the year?"