Before We Say "Goodbye" to Christmas
Yes, I realize that Christmas is "over" for many of you. Once the clock strikes midnight on December 25th, that's all she wrote.
First of all, the Christmas Season begins on Christmas; it doesn't end. The only reason you think it ends is because secular society has expropriated Christmas to use it for its own purposes, most of which revolve around selling stuff to you - much of it stuff you don't need. Part of how they do this is to start playing "Christmas music" on or even before Thanksgiving, with "Christmas" ads these days starting as far back as October.
Since part of the purpose of this site is to promote the use of reason and common sense, I hope you understand that getting sucked into this view of Christmas works against your reason and common sense. It replaces what you know to be true - that Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ - with something made up, and mostly made up to manipulate you to buy stuff. Letting yourself be manipulated means giving up your reason and commons sense, or at least suspending it, in order to comply with what the manipulating party wants you to do.
Rather than get sucked into this, I suggest you spend more time with the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And Christmas affords many opportunities for this. For example, we attended a wonderful performance of "Messiah" on December 23rd. And we keep the "Christmas music" to a minimum as we get ready for the Christmas Season. And now that it's actually the Christmas Season, we play really good Christmas music in our home.
Anyway, do what you want, but just be aware that the way Christmas is pushed at us far too early and pulled away from us far too soon is unnatural, and a form of manipulation.
With that in mind, and in keeping with the spirit of pursuing the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, instead of the pop junk that permeates our world, I wanted to share a beautiful thought from a guy who ran a monastery (an Abbott) until he died a couple of years ago:
As I and my family continue to enjoy and celebrate the Christmas Season, I hope you do too.
First of all, the Christmas Season begins on Christmas; it doesn't end. The only reason you think it ends is because secular society has expropriated Christmas to use it for its own purposes, most of which revolve around selling stuff to you - much of it stuff you don't need. Part of how they do this is to start playing "Christmas music" on or even before Thanksgiving, with "Christmas" ads these days starting as far back as October.
Since part of the purpose of this site is to promote the use of reason and common sense, I hope you understand that getting sucked into this view of Christmas works against your reason and common sense. It replaces what you know to be true - that Christmas marks the birth of Jesus Christ - with something made up, and mostly made up to manipulate you to buy stuff. Letting yourself be manipulated means giving up your reason and commons sense, or at least suspending it, in order to comply with what the manipulating party wants you to do.
Rather than get sucked into this, I suggest you spend more time with the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. And Christmas affords many opportunities for this. For example, we attended a wonderful performance of "Messiah" on December 23rd. And we keep the "Christmas music" to a minimum as we get ready for the Christmas Season. And now that it's actually the Christmas Season, we play really good Christmas music in our home.
Anyway, do what you want, but just be aware that the way Christmas is pushed at us far too early and pulled away from us far too soon is unnatural, and a form of manipulation.
With that in mind, and in keeping with the spirit of pursuing the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, instead of the pop junk that permeates our world, I wanted to share a beautiful thought from a guy who ran a monastery (an Abbott) until he died a couple of years ago:
We are all like little children at Christmas time. We tear open our presents, hoping to find that toy we have wanted so badly and for so long. And behold, there it is! We are so happy … for about a minute. We play with it for a little while and then push it aside. It didn’t give us the joy we thought it would … it never does. Neither does anything else on this earth. Let us reflect how we do this very same thing time and time again. How we run from one form of occupation to another, from one form of entertainment to some other distraction. There are desires within the heart that nothing of this earth will ever satisfy. We must seek God with all our heart, and then happiness, peace, and joy will flow out of the depths of our soul.
Merry Christmas!
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