This Thing Called Christmas


The commercial side of Christmas and the fear of not addressing other religious denominations has certain put Christmas in a predicament. It seems like the secular side of Christmas has a leg up on the faith filled Christian celebrators. It’s unclear on whether Santa Claus has taken the lead due to having so many different religious beliefs and everyone feeling that their faith, their God should be honored as well or if Jesus took a second place standing due to people not wanting to get caught up in religious entanglements. Let’s face it, Santa Claus is more revered because he distributes gifts to all and they are physical hands on gifts as opposed to spiritual gifts that can be readily seen or touched. Compared to an IPhone or some other over -priced electronic, opening up a box of wisdom or humanity seems like a poor consolation prize

   Lots of arguments can be brought up over whether December 25th is Jesus real birth date which would give a perfect opportunity for those unsure which side of the fence they want to stand. I am one of those who believe that you can celebrate both sides of Christmas. In our family the huge family gathering of eating, drinking, mingling and gifting is done Christmas eve leaving individual families to do their own opening of gifts and just relaxing spending Christmas day how they want. With the exception of maybe myself and a couple others Jesus Christ is rarely brought up to the children Santa Claus is and for the adults it’s all about family and core values. Technically speaking the day before is not a religious anything perhaps that’s why our family gathering has grown because all religious over tones are muted and Santa Claus is praised and worshiped.

   For a long clip of time I was the devoted Christian who got overly offended by the lack of Jesus is our Christmas gathering. So I wouldn’t lose sight of what Christmas was supposed to be about I would attend some church service to sing happy birthday to Jesus and be amongst others who felt the need to praise and worship. I am no longer in that state of mind but I still believe that Santa Claus is over played and drilled into the heads of little minds that that is what Christmas is all about. 

   I may not be so staunch in honoring Jesus on the 25th of December only because it’s just a date etched in time someone deemed his birthday when in fact it is more closer to April but all that aside; much like that we should be doing every day with people we love, we should be saying thank you and worshiping Jesus daily not just on his birthday and death and resurrection. I am like many who have mixed convictions but I do take time on the 25th of December to reflect and say thank you.

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