Happy Day 11 of The 12 Days of Blogmas!
Christmas as we know it today has a pretty disjointed history. It’s a jumbled hodgepodge of pagan traditions, Christian traditions, commercial marketing, and lots of secular traditions.
I’m no theologian, but quite a lot of the religious aspects of the holiday that are celebrated are acknowledged by most Christians as not actually having any basis in Christianity. Like the actual timing of Christ’s birth. Or the timing of the wise men’s visit. Or how many wise men there even were.
And even on the secular front we can’t seem to agree. What were the names of all the reindeer? Apparently not Donner and Blitzen. And is Die Hard a Christmas movie? (For the record, of course it is).
And what about how we celebrate? When is it ok to decorate? Or listen to Christmas music? What goes on top of the tree? When is your family allowed to open up gifts? And does everyone go at once in one big free for all or one at a time? Families have some pretty strong opinions about how this is all supposed to go.
Some people make no acknowledgment of any religious aspect of the holiday but fully embrace Santa, elves, and reindeer. Others set up nativities and attend Christmas services at church as part of their family traditions.
So if we can’t even agree on the basics of Christmas tradition, and we all celebrate Christmas differently and it means something different to different people, why do we collectively keep bothering with it?
I’d venture to guess that it has to do with all the intangible qualities that come along with the Christmas season. Those qualities that have nothing to do with how we celebrate or the commercialism of the modern holiday, but are at the core of everything people do no matter how they celebrate. Intangible qualities like love, peace, and generosity. These qualities can’t be seen or touched, but they are integral to the Christmas season.
Regardless of how people celebrate, giving is a tradition that most everyone observes in some form, from gift giving to charity donations. Data shows that charitable donations greatly increase around this time of year.
Even when times are tough, people like to give whatever they can to others. O Henry’s 1905 Gift of the Magi continues to resonate with readers over a hundred years after it was written because we as humans like to be able to give to those we love, even if we have to make sacrifices to do so.
What if we were to live everyday like Christmastime? Not the stressful, consumeristic parts, but the joyful, reflective, grateful, giving parts of Christmas.
My preacher said something in a sermon once that has stuck with me. He said over the years he’s given many sermons about giving, church attendance, or something along those lines meant to inspire people towards a certain action. But in his opinion, these types of sermons don’t motivate people to change attitudes or behaviors. What motivates people to give is having an appreciation for what Jesus Christ did for them. When a person truly reflects on that sacrifice and feels pure, overwhelming gratitude for what their Savior did, you can’t stop them from giving.
Each holiday season, as we tend to get more reflective, our giving becomes more generous. What if we strove to live every day like it was this season of reflection and giving? What if we lived with this same level of appreciation for what Jesus did for us every day? What if they couldn’t stop us from giving because of this overflowing gratitude we had for our Savior. 2 Corinthians 8 tells the story of the Macedonian churches that were in poverty, but couldn’t be stopped in their giving because of their overflowing joy.
“In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.”- 2 Corinthians 8:2-4
What if we lived every day with the same level of love and gratitude that we express this time of year? What would this world look like then?
Rachel F. Jean 
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