Christmas is unrecognizable from the ones that I had as a child. I am 63 but imagine the difference for our parents and others who are older! Christmas in North Dakota on the family farm wasn't a Christian focused event as we didn't have connections with a church and grew up non-believers. There were few gifts and many were homemade. We were poor and didn't know it. I know that sounds contradictory. There was one bought gift for each of the 7 of us kids. The rest were homemade by grandma's and grandpa's along with parents pitching in to help us kids make presents for each other. We didn't know any differently and never thought of asking for a specific present, brand name, or anything expensive. The Christmas tree was put up on Christmas Eve sometimes after we went to bed. The stockings were hung and in the morning we found them filled with nuts and fruit with some hard ribbon candy. As kids we were excited for the opening of gifts followed by a 70 mile trip to one of the two sets of grandparents for Christmas dinner. There the kids ate in one room while the adults ate in another. We opened gifts there as well and then headed home as there were chores to be done. We travelled to and from in our pickup and later a car. The pickup would carry 3 or 4 in the cab with the rest under a tarp covered bed of the pickup. We thought all people had the life we had. Complaining was out of the question.
That was what Christmas was to me. When I was overseas with the US Army Christmas took on another dimension. There wasn't one. My first year of marriage brought me to the home of her parents in Redwood City, California. To say I was overwhelmed is the biggest overstatement that I've ever made. Exactly the opposite as when I grew up. This was a Christian home and I had accepted Christ by then. To me, Christmas was all about Christ. To the home of my in-laws Christmas was a commercial competition of who could buy the most and the best for each other. Little reflected Christ at all. My kids from my first marriage never had a want. Whatever happened to Christ? I tried to reflect Christ in my own home. They both grew up knowing Jesus. It's nice to see that now they still love him. "Down to earth" would describe their take on Christmas with that same simplicity passed on to their children. It's not really that difficult. All one needs to do is keep Christ in mind all year long. Thankfulness for all that we enjoy and are blessed with is all we need to do in order to have the proper mindset going into Christmas.
I'm old now (but not dead!). My priorities haven't changed and Christmas is about Christ regardless of what others around me do. I give gifts along with mercy and grace. The mercy and grace are primary. We decorate the house but don't take down any power grid! We still mail out Christmas cards with the message of Christ's birth. We still remember that without Christ the holiday is just a commercial event. While retailers are set to make record profits, drain your and my bank, and further distance the world from the message of Christ, we choose to not be swayed by excess. I don't think we could afford it anyway! If we say yes to Christ, we can say no to commercial and meaningless Christmas in all avenues. There is nothing wrong with homemade gifts and homemade food and homemade cookies! Christ being the center is what really matters. Just say no to any message other than Christ's birth! It's always your choice.
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