What Do You Want for Christmas?

I have to admit it. I have more than a couple of problems with Christmas.

Don't get me wrong. Celebrating the Incarnation of the Son of God is a great event. I'm all for it. Remembering the Virgin Birth, recalling the shepherds that worshiped, picturing those wise men who sought Him, these are all good things. And I'm not one of those "Christmas is of pagan origins" types, either. Some of that, quite frankly, is false information. Some of it is true, but who lights a Yule log to ward off the dying sun or kisses under the mistletoe with fertility rites in mind? How many people even know of the cult of Mithras (which is largely credited with making December 25th our "Christmas Day")? No, that stuff doesn't bother me.

I'm bothered by the whole Santa Claus thing. I think that's more insidious than we realize. I know, for instance, that some people have grown up questioning the existence of God because they found out that their parents lied to them about the existence of Santa. That's a problem. And I've already complained about the poor theology Santa-ism brings.

One of the things that bothers me about Christmas is "What do you want for Christmas?" We are told "It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:25). Christmas is "the season of giving". In celebrating God who "gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16), we recognize giving as a good thing. Why, then, is the emphasis on getting?

Have you ever been part of a "white elephant exchange"? It's a fairly popular Christmas party game (with many variations) where everyone brings a gift and people open them one by one. The rules, generally, are that you get to exchange what you have opened for something someone else has opened. Often many of the gifts are useless or frivolous things that no one would really want. The obvious goal of the game is to end up with something good and leave others with those good-for-nothing things. It is, after all, more blessed to get than to ... wait ... that's not right.

It is a game, but it is often the mindset of Christmas. "What do I want?" "What can I get out of it?" "I hope, I hope, I hope they get me something good instead of another stupid sweater." That is not a valid representation of "God so loved the world that He gave".

And what about the kids? Parents have a responsibility to teach their children right and wrong. How, at Christmas time, do we teach our children "It is more blessed to give than to receive"? Where are they going to learn the joy of surrendering something that is of value to me to give something of value to someone else? We teach them, "Christmas is a celebration of Christ ... and we plan to get you lots of fun stuff." How do we teach them "Christmas is about Christ giving up Himself ... and we need to learn to give up ourselves"?

A lot of people think of Christmas as a good time, a positive event. They like "the spirit of the season". And there are things to commend it. Still, I suspect that too many of us have put too little thought into something that is too important to ignore. You know what I would want for Christmas? I'd want people who are celebrating the Reason for the Season to put a little more thought into how we can go about demonstrating the reason for the season rather than simply going with the flow ... in the wrong directions. But, if they did that, that would also be my gift to them. No, that doesn't work with the current view of Christmas. I guess I'll have to figure out something more selfish to ask for.