There is something about lights and color and the smells of home that bring us to a place where we want to be God’s people. The humility of the manger, the cold of the barn, the darkness broken only by hope in a star – we know it is there – very close – that many live in that fashion and that we must bring them to warmth and light. Haven’t decorated anything – I have to grade papers like a machine this weekend. Then, after the food drive, the Heifer project at school, the clothes drive and final exams – then I’ll make the house warm, make soup and bread and chocolate and lights will be everywhere. Probably won’t get anything done until next week. But that light of home makes memories for our children – just like filling the car with food for the food pantry and coats for Project warmth. All of them meld together into Christmas memory. It becomes problematic when we just go for the ambiance and forget the rest. When the kids were little, it was easy to just hit “ToysRUs” , midnight mass and wait for the joy of our children in the morning. That was sort of Martha Stewart’s Christmas and we had a few of those. After our daughter’s illness, that sort of Christmas lost all meaning – thank God. Have a good weekend David – you are creating part of the memory. Your son’s big interest will be the paper and ribbons. We always gave our infants lots of paper – even a Sunday paper. Such fun. This year – with adult children – “well, do you need underwear, a coat, socks or shoes?” We also give our favorite books and films – already read and viewed – just get em off the shelf and wrap those suckers. We still go to midnight mass – light and dark come together with Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. And we get to sing all those great songs together. Cinnamon rolls – big giant drippy ones are the thing everyone waits for. I get up at 4 am on Christmas and make lots of them. Wish that tradition would go away because I don’t enjoy it anymore, but it really is the one thing all the kids, nieces and nephews wait for on Christmas. Final Christmas tradition – Monty Python all day on Christmas. Bureau of silly walks, “the comfy chair” – all those silly silly jokes keep us silly all day. i love Christmas. Can’t feel guilty about any of it these days.

I really wish, personally, that all that stuff hadn’t become the main focus of Christmas. It’s exhausting!!! I’m getting too old and tired to have to pull out all those lights and decorations every year. To be honest, I only do it for my daughter. She LOVES that stuff, too; so I must drag my tired carcass out to my garage each years and don the outside of my house with all that Christmas “cheer”; and drag in all my boxes of ornaments and lights and tacky garland for the inside, too. (Not to mention my very expensive fake tree). Who wouldn’t love that??
I cannot guarantee I will continue the “tradition”, once my child goes off to college and has her own dwelling to “decorate”….I suppose I have more in common with Ebanezer Scrooge than I thought.
In the end, all I really want to have to focus on is the birth of Christ. That’s the only thing that really matters. I mean, if we named the day after HIM, and we celebrate it BECAUSE of Him, why don’t we spend more time focusing on HIM, instead of gaudy decorations, stressful forages into the mall, and seeing how deeply we can get ourselves into more financial debt THIS year???
JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON, YA’LL…….

sounds like a wonderful gift to your children. Enjoy. Take Aleve for your sore back.

By the way, I always think of Jesus talking about giving to the poor when I think of Christmas celebration. By which I mean, I think if it all makes sense, you’re doing it wrong. Ridiculous is the right adjective for a Christmas done correctly.

Why are we so caught up with traditions and rituals when
the real meaning of Christ-mass gets lost!! It is a joyful
anticipation and celebration of the birth of the Savior;
the greatest gift, the most wonderful gift of all 1!

The real meaning of Christmas is the birth of Christ – the Incarnation – the most insignificant of people – a 14 year old girl – gives birth and suddenly there is light for us all. We celebrate it with rituals and meals and joy and we should also be part of caring for whoever is poor, powerless, broken. Combining it all is hard. But, there are few if any gifts at our house – just fun – celebration of the light of the world – our home is the center for a few hours – the season is about the great compassion of God. So – have a little compassion for everyone – even the ones who seemingly have lost the meaning. You never know when such meaning will hit someone like a bolt of lightning.
Give to the poor, love your family, sit down with family and strangers and celebrate the Light of the world.
At our house it is one day that is religious and fun. For some families it is an ordeal of broken lives in the midst of alcohol or a first holiday without a loved one. But it is ultimately about the Light that can come into every world.
We all do the best we can. I love Christmas because all the hope God has for us is visible. All the pain and suffering of those without – is visible and we are able to see it. The world can be changed if we but have the eyes to see and hearts that will open. I used to sit aside and think about all the things I should be doing on that day – I should be at a soup kitchen, my kids shouldn’t be getting all this stuff. But there was one Christmas – about 14 years ago when I thought it was the last one for my family. We thought our child would be dead by the next Christmas. There seemed no doubt. But she was the first one up the next morning. Loved her hockey stick and helmet (the one we thought she’d never get to use). By February she had joined a team and we watched her slowly come back alive. The incarnation was real after that and all the joy that comes with the very idea of incarnation became real too. have a merry and loving Christmas and then go out and serve God’s kingdom. My daughter does just that. She teaches us all the time.

Since I don’t actually celebrate Christmas, it sneaks up on me each year. I don’t realize the season of cheer has arrived until my neighbors switch on their colored lights. Then I drive around with my children to see what folks have put out in their yards.
Best are full yard displays consisting of large illuminated plastic figures. The main types are these: Santas, choir boys, snow men (“Frosties”), giant candles, giant Christmas ornaments, Holy Families, Wise Men, and reindeer. Secondary features of the well-decorated yard might include trees covered in lights, fake ‘modern’ trees fashioned out of a spiral of wire covered in lights, directional signs indicating the way to the North Pole, model ‘presents’ lit from within, Santa’s Helpers, and Mrs. Clause. This last is very rare.
Some displays are tasteful and traditional, such as crèches lit with artfully placed outdoor lights, complete with oxen and asses and a straw-filled manger in which Baby Jèsu only makes his appearance on Christmas morn. Such highbrow pretension is rightfully scorned by the true aficionados of American Christmas.
Animated displays are freaky and unsettling, but rely too much on mere money. Where is the creativity? Where is the originality? True, the Santa’s Workshop display with the little fellows working away with hammers on toy boats and wooden pull trains is fairly impressive, but it was just purchased as a set at some dreadful Christmasland Shoppe and plugged in.
My favorite display last year was three Frosties facing three Choir Boys on a lawn. Weird, no? But then, New Jersey IS weird.
Anyway, keep up the good work on the yards, Christian friends & neighbors. My family really enjoys seeing what people do.

Linus?

I am so happy seeing what other people do for Christmas, regardless if it what I would do or like. We each are individuals, and the true meaning of Christmas is in our tolerance of others. Jesus came not to judge, but to love. He came as a baby,innocent and without any misconceptions of the world.So, when I see my neighbor with a ladder decorated to look like a tree, I think how creative he is. He is doing what he can with what he has. I do not decorate outside because my house faces an empty house; we live on a cul de sac. Why decorate for nobody to see it? But the neighbors who decorate care, not what I think, but for what they want to do. Isn’t that what the true meaning of God’s gift to man is…an innocent child with no past, growing in a normal home, and teaching us in his later life how to love our neighbors, and then the rest of the world. I won’t judge how people decorate; I will be thankful that they care to do so..

this is gay ya’ll
get a life