Christmas? Bah Humbug!

Not sure what to call this one.  Maybe just to say I’m really not feeling the Christmas spirit at all this year.  I’ve been wondering why, and part of it is that it’s up to me to work on getting Christmas traditions going.  Kent & I have never really had a big Christmas production.  The first few years we decorated and gave each other presents, and my sister’s kids were little, so we got them gifts.  But one by one, we have just eliminated people we have to buy for until it would have been just us.  And then we started waiting until the after-Christmas saks, and lately, we just get something we really want whenever we see it, and that’s the birthday or Christmas present that year. 

We saved a lot of money we don’t have, and it made the holiday season way less stressful.  But now I find myself kind of sad around Christmas time.  Everyone else is traveling to see family, and having parties, and shopping.  I am just not a part of any of those things, and I kind of miss them. 

I think I am also a little disappointed in the whole “reason for the season” slogan.  After all, there’s lots of evidence that Jesus wasn’t really born in December, and how does Santa and Christmas trees celebrate that anyway?  But the biggest problem I can see is that the birth of Jesus isn’t really the most important event.  I mean how about his ministry?  The cross?  The idea of the incarnation is a momentous thing, I guess, but I don’t know if it’s important to celebrate the birthdate.  Maybe I’m just feeling a bit of the old bah-humbug. 

Maybe it’s time for me to really think about why the birth of Jesus matters to me.  It is amazing that God would take on our likeness, but to be honest, I am not sure that really happened.  I know that would shock a lot of people, but it doesn’t seem to me like the whole gospel doesn’t really hang on weather Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  I think what matters is the love he showed for us and the way we are supposed to love each other.  Jesus said that if we have seen him, we have seen the father.  And when I look at Jesus, I see love and compassion for people.  That’s what I want to hold on to at Christmas time.  I am not interested in spending tons of money I don’t have on people who already have what they need.  Maybe I need to think of some way to share that love at this time of the year.