Holidays
It seems today that there is a split between "practicing Christians" and those that simply acknowledge God and observe Christmas in it's commercialized, secular sense. Practicing Christians are those that attend church every Sunday, are active in the lives of others, and can tend to oppose anything that takes the focus off religion during the holiday season. They are in direct contrast to the twice-a-year Christians, we will call them Chreasters (Christmas and Easter church attendees),that pretty much fake it throughout the year and tend to celebrate Christmas in a big, flashy, overbearing manner.
The Chreasters try to lead a somewhat moral life, are good citizens in their community, and call themselves Christians. They tend to jump on the Christmas bandwagon every year and "spend" their way into a sense of feeling better about themselves and the lifestyles they have chosen. They live the final few weeks of every year living in a manner they have been conditioned to believe is right. They start buying next years gifts the day after Christmas and feel genuinely obligated to buy gifts for everyone in their family, all their friends, neighbors, teachers, coaches, mail carriers, paper boys, and a few strangers they meet in the stores. To them Christmas is a competition to find the best deals, have the best looking Christmas cards, and to complete their shopping list before anyone else.
Many of the practicing Christians tend to go overboard and make the rest of the world feel guilty about enjoying the holidays, buying gifts for loved ones, and celebrating the season with all of the lights, symbolism, and customs that have become associated with Christmas. They make martyrs of themselves and their children in an attempt to de-commercialize the holiday into a time of self-depravity and suffering in the name of God. They overcompensate with their actions in an effort to distance themselves from those that seem "lost" to the true meaning of Christmas. They dispel any myths about Santa, reindeer, elves, or anything else magical and make-believe to their children at a very young age, and view it as a misleading and immoral practice. They tend to be cynical of anything secular during the holidays.
Which of these groups is worse off? Where do you fit in? How much is enough? How much is too little? Is there a balance to be had? How often do we make Christmas a task to complete, a checklist of gifts to get, activities to plan, decorations to put up, and extravagant meals to prepare?
My family and I have fought with this for many years. Trying to obtain that perfect balance of celebration, sacrifice, and service to others. We have learned a few things worth sharing:
1. Kids do not have to get everything on their list.
2. You can't (and shouldn't) buy for everyone you know.
3. An opportunity to serve others truly is the greatest gift you can give your kids.
4. Making holiday memories together as a family means more than any store bought gift you can find.
5. Christmas is, and should always remain, about Christ. He was the greatest gift ever given and always will be.
The trinkets and toys you buy for your kids this Christmas will be forgotten and gone by next Christmas, but the times you spend together and the memories you make as a family will last a lifetime. I asked my kids to name three things they got for Christmas last year. They couldn't name one. I asked if they remembered what we did last year at Christmas, and they remembered almost every detail about every place we visited, the friends we spent time with, and the family that came to spend the holiday with us.
I consider myself and my family practicing Christians and devoted Christ followers. However, we celebrate Christmas with gifts, pictures with Santa, a Christmas Tree, lights on the outside of the house, and a host of Christmas crafts, activities and movies. I do not feel like symbols, figures, and stories of fictional creatures lessens our spiritual beliefs. If they do then our faith is not nearly as strong as it should be. I also do not believe Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch are demonic beings.
My wife and I make it a top priority to remind our kids of the meaning of Christmas, the importance of putting the needs of others first, and to appreciate all that God has chosen to bless our family with. We seek a balance between the spiritual worship of the birth of Christ and a time of thanksgiving for family, friends, and those in need.
This year has been particularly hard on us financially, but the blessings that we have received from family and friends has far outweighed any temporary hardships we have faced. We have been shown great amounts of love and experienced things that we would have otherwise overlooked in years past from being so caught up in ourselves. For that precious gift we will be eternally grateful to so many of you. So, from the Whitaker family to yours, Merry Christmas. May God's blessings be with each of you all year long and may it serve to strengthen and guide your family for generations to come.
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