The memories of Christmases Past, for me, are times of love, compassion, forgiveness, togetherness, laughter, kindness, and being real. I lived the first seventeen years of my life in houses without running water, inside toilets, or bathtubs. We took baths in a big tin wash tub, by carrying the water in buckets from the well, heating it on the wood burning stove to temper the cold water in the wash tub. The boys shared their water. The girls shared their water. We then dumped the water onto the garden in the summer and onto the yard in the winter.
Dad always brought home a tree and Mom made strings of popcorn to decorate it. She would hang homemade cookies on the tree. We kids would help string the popcorn, and hang the cookies. We also colored paper, then cut it into strips and strung this around the tree. The angel for the top of the tree would be homemade from fabric by Mom.
The gifts under the tree would be items that each family member needed, and one fun gift for us boys. I always received new socks and underwear, maybe a shirt and jeans. I do remember receiving a small train set one year, and a sling shot another year. We always opened the presents on Christmas Eve after supper. Mom would fix a nice meal from canned goods from the garden, as well as bake pies and cookies. Ginger bread cookies were my favorite. Dad would always have a case of Coca Cola and Orange Soda sitting on the porch covered with snow to keep it cold. Mom made ice cream with the snow sometimes.
As we grew older and dad did better financially the gifts became nicer. I received a hunting jacket one year, and insulated boots another year.
We didn’t go to church in those days, so we had no religious ties to Christmas. It was just about being nice to each other and dropping all the arguing that normally went on in the household. The gifts were not expensive, but needed, and when received they were appreciated. You realized the sacrifice involved to secure the gifts for each other.
It was all about family and being together with each other and seeing smiles and hearing laughter as we shared with each other a token of kindness and love via a present.
Christmas today has become an issue around it being originally a pagan holiday, that the Catholic Church tampered with for the sake of appealing to pagans to join their Masses. Jesus was not born in December. As far as scholars can tell, He was born some time in March. Yet Christians still celebrate December 25th as His Birthday.
We forget that we celebrate Saturday each week by not working, and doing errands and things for ourselves instead of for our boss. Saturday was originally named in honor of Saturn. This is the case with the rest of the days of the week, many of them associated with pagan gods. Yet we do not refuse to take the day off from work, nor refuse to go to work on Monday, named after the goddess of the moon.
No matter what the original pagan influence for Christmas or the days of the week, we have moved beyond that with access to unlimited megabytes of data from around the world. We need to realize that this world is a very cold, selfish place to live, and we all need a little kindness, love, forgiveness, mercy, understanding, and just a plain old hug once in a while. The Christmas season just gives us a reason to be kind to each other for several days at a time. It is better to give than to receive, doesn’t do away with the fact there is still joy in receiving as well as giving when it’s done with love and kindness.
Each season at Christmas, people are nicer to each other, smile more, say kinder words, hold doors open more often, allow the elderly to take their time before you, and just demonstrate a better demeanor toward each other. The music is about Jesus and angels and rejoicing and love and kindness and family and sharing. The atmosphere is lighter, because our souls are thinking on something more than self. We are thinking of others and what can I give that will show my love for them. It changes the equation of life. Sowing love toward others=reaping love toward ourselves. This is so different from the rest of the year, when we sow for ourselves and we reap the coldness of others.
So, just as we forget about the original pagan significance of the days of the week, let’s do the same with the wrong motives of the Catholic Church. We just need to do what Christ came to do in the first place. Love one another and be kind to one another and forgive one another whether it is the 25th of December or the middle of August. Unselfishness is honored all over the world at any time of the year, not just on December 25th.
Christ gets a bad rap from people trying to justify the bad things about church and Christians. What we really need to do is examine our motives for giving Him a bad rap. What are we afraid of if we find that He is real and His Words are true?
I have been hurt many times. Not just by Christians, but by ministers, yet I still maintain my faith in Christ, in spite of it all. You know why? Because Jesus has shown Himself real to me on many occasions. He has always been gentle and full of love and peace. Man has trouble demonstrating this on a continual basis, whether they are an Atheist or a Christian or an Eastern Guru. Man fails, but Jesus is always the same.
I don’t know about you, but I would never bow down to a pagan god on Monday or any other day of the week. We live in a world of spiritual darkness ruled by a demonic prince of darkness, but when you acknowledge the Christ of Christmas, no matter what day or month it may be, you are slapping any pagan gods in the face, a far cry from worshiping them. We as Christians are in the world, but not of the world. We are still searching for that city whose builder and maker is God.
There are bad doctors, bad employees, bad companies, bad presidents, bad parents, bad children, bad cars, bad houses, bad clothes, and on and on and on, but all we do is change doctors or employers or presidents, or cars, or houses, or clothes and on and on and on. Now granted we can’t just change parents and children, but look at how many are estranged from one another today and on holidays. They may be estranged, but they still ache for our love and long for kindness and hugs. We need to get our eyes off Christians’ foibles and onto the true meaning of Christ. Love, mercy, kindness and forgiveness toward one another. His love and kindness can rule in your heart inside or outside of church walls. You just have to invite the Christmas Child inside. He is estranged from you also, but He still longs for your hug.
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. Revelation 3:20 NASB