ABC television aired “A Charlie Brown Christmas” last night. After a long day of fighting Baton Rouge traffic in search of carpeting and a bean bag chair (details will be spared), I tumbled in to my motorhome to sit down with my TV dinner and television to relax from the day. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was airing. The Peanuts gang after 40-plus years frolic and tease each other just as they did when I was a child. It brought back many memories and a sense of comfort. What is Christmas really about anyway? Yes, the birth of our risen Lord, but what is it really about to you? Come on, admit it. If Christmas were truly the celebration of Christ’s birth and only that, wouldn’t we handle this mega-holiday in a different fashion? Christmas is a very complex holiday. I believe Charles Schultz’s characters portray a thumbnail of all those complicated facets from the baby in the manger to presents under the tree, caroling, food, parties, cards, etc. My Christmas is uncomplicated this year. No tree, no card, no presents. Moving during the holiday time is very strange. Instead of writing Christmas notes or wrapping presents, I’m painting, searching for carpet and selecting new faucets.
My life is very sans Christmas. Oh I do see signs of Christmas, especially in decorations, mostly outside lighting. There’s a doozie complete with a radio station to tune in to on the last ¼ mile to the campground. Yesterday’s trip to the mall engaged my senses with holiday music and Santa and people shopping, sales clerks wishing Merry Christmas at the end of my purchase of paint and brushes. But what finally made me realize Christmas was approaching was this simple ½ cartoon. It was a memory. Maybe that’s Christmas, remembering the cherished moments from childhood and life; remembering a little baby in a stable who brought love and peace and Good News; remembering blessings and joys, sorrows and wants, and many emotions we so elegantly and selectively push aside the rest of the year. That’s why Christmas is so complex. We unintentionally made it this way. Christmas is a prism casting a rainbow palette of refracted light that splays open the crevasses of our heart when we allow those shadows to be exposed. Sometimes the shadows contain absolute joy and other times deep sorrow or disappointment.
If you dare, unwrap your private heart of Christmas and rediscover or explore what this season truly means to you. It might be your best present this year.
My life is very sans Christmas. Oh I do see signs of Christmas, especially in decorations, mostly outside lighting. There’s a doozie complete with a radio station to tune in to on the last ¼ mile to the campground. Yesterday’s trip to the mall engaged my senses with holiday music and Santa and people shopping, sales clerks wishing Merry Christmas at the end of my purchase of paint and brushes. But what finally made me realize Christmas was approaching was this simple ½ cartoon. It was a memory. Maybe that’s Christmas, remembering the cherished moments from childhood and life; remembering a little baby in a stable who brought love and peace and Good News; remembering blessings and joys, sorrows and wants, and many emotions we so elegantly and selectively push aside the rest of the year. That’s why Christmas is so complex. We unintentionally made it this way. Christmas is a prism casting a rainbow palette of refracted light that splays open the crevasses of our heart when we allow those shadows to be exposed. Sometimes the shadows contain absolute joy and other times deep sorrow or disappointment.
If you dare, unwrap your private heart of Christmas and rediscover or explore what this season truly means to you. It might be your best present this year.
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