Putting Christ back in Christmas

Christmas always brings up so many mixed feelings for me every year.

Growing up it was always a special time of getting up early and realizing that my mom had been lying the whole month by telling me that this year I shouldn’t get my hopes up because times were tough. Regardless of what happened the year before I always believed her and expected to get nothing but a pair of socks on Christmas morning. But every time I’d be amazed at how much I received, while noticing the love in their eyes as we opened our gifts. I remember having that same feeling the year I had my first part-time job and bought Christmas gifts for everyone in my family, and then many years later when I had a son that I could shower with love, and gifts.

But now I’m a few years older (and hopefully a little wiser) and Christmas has taken on a couple black marks. Perhaps they’ve always been there, but for me they’ve been slowly creeping to a boiling point.

First, this whole putting “Christ” back in Christmas is about as mind-numbing an argument as there is out there.

• Like prayer in school, Christ is only out of something you take Him out of. Please don’t rely on schools or department stores for your faith, or proclamation thereof.

• I’m not sure Christ desires to be part of the biggest display of materialism the world has ever known. If you want Christ back in Christmas, stop buying things for people that already have enough stuff and get up at 3:00am on the day after Thanksgiving and spend all day shopping for people that don’t have anything, and can’t buy you something in return. That would do more to put Christ back in Christmas than saying Merry Christmas ever would.

• Speaking of Xmas, did you know that the “X” comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός, translated as “Christ” and has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.

• More here from Los

Second, as a parent we’ve been finding ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand we want to bless our son with the same sort of Christmas we’ve always had, with lots of fun things under the Christmas tree. At the same time we know that A) Tanner has more than he’ll ever need already, and B) Tanner needs to shift his thinking to that of giving instead of receiving.

So how do you handle that? It’s been a constant battle for us. He’s still so young that all he would see is that his friends are getting PS3′s and he got a deck of cards. But you have to start somewhere right? Sometimes change hurts, but who wants to hurt their kids?

This year we are going to try something new. We are still going to get him some cool stuff, but in addition we are going to include a sum of money with a note that he has to buy something for someone else that doesn’t have as much as he does. A sort of Pay It Forward if you will. We’re hoping this will put giving into the forefront of his mind, as well as allowing him to see the blessing that comes from giving to others. I’m also imagining the ratio of gifts to giving to switch throughout the years. I’m pretty excited about his actually. I think it’s just the right start to get this ball rolling.

So how do you feel about the “issues” surrounding Christmas? Do you even have issues, or is it just me?

Other thoughts on Chrstmas:
• Death to Commercialized Christmas
• I Killed Santa & I’m Back At Work

Filed under: Christmas

Christmas Day

Putting the finishing touches on our Christmas Day festivities. It’s just going to be the three of us in our PJ’s the entire day. We’re anticipating getting up at 7:00am. A new tradition we’re going to start is to have Christmas movies in the background the entire day.

Here’s the current lineup:

How The Grinch Stole Christmas
A Christmas Story
The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause 2
Elf
Shrek the Halls
Jingle All The Way
Home Alone
Deck The Halls
Christmas Vacation

We’re going to have snacks out all day too. Hickory Farms will be well represented with meat logs, cheeses, crackers and sweet mustard, as well as cookies, fine chocolates, and home-made punch.

It’s gonna be great!

Holiday Road – Lindsey Buckingham

Filed under: Christmas

Death To Commercialized Christmas

I love that my wife and I are on the same page with this issue. Neither one of us can stand what Christmas has become, and we both are looking for ways to create a better example for our son.

As it stands now Christmas is simply a tradition of the haves buying for the haves. We all assign monetary values on all our friends and family who in turn do the same for us. Parents get $100 worth of loot. Siblings $50. Nieces and Nephews $25 per. The problem is that we all have tons of stuff already. We can buy anything we want already. What about Johnny who doesn’t have a house to stay in on Christmas morning? Or Jenny who hopes she can eat on Christmas Eve?

Neither one of us are scrooges. We like blessing our friends and family, and we love that people think enough about us to sacrifice their time and resources to get us nice things. It’s just we don’t want it to be all about stuff. We want to create an environment for Tanner that teaches him that giving to those without is the most fun you can have, especially around Christmas time. We want to teach him that Christmas isn’t about how much loot you can score, but how much you can bless someone else.

It’s definitely not an easy assignment. There are years and years of tradition to try to break free from, but we’re planting the seeds. And we’re not alone.

Advent Conspiracy
adventconspiracy.org

Last Christmas I mentioned that our church raised ten thousand dollars to go to Africa to dig a well. Well, the team have their tickets in hand, and they are feverishly training (in arctic weather no less) for the big trip in February 2009. Our goal is to foster indigenous well drilling movements, rather than just drill wells for people. At the villiage shop level we want to eventually see craftsman building, selling, and renting drill units.

To find out more about the trip, you can visit their blog at Living Water Mission.

If you’d like to donate towards the project, please use the button below or send a check to:

NewSong Community Church
133 E. Chicago Blvd.
Tecumseh, MI 49286
(Write Living Water Mission in the memo section)

Filed under: Christmas, Giving

Ten Thousand Dollars

That, my friends, is the end result of a bunch of people thinking outside their collective boxes. As I mentioned earlier, our church started an initiative to give a gift to Jesus this Christmas in the form of a well for an orphanage in Africa.

Well, the tally from all our gifts came in last night and we couldn’t be more excited! My dad is calling his contacts in Africa today to set things in motion. How cool is that?

The things you can do if you just put one foot in front of the other and keep following God’s lead.

And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.
—Matthew 10:42

Filed under: Africa, Christmas, Faith, Giving

Holiday Loot

High-brow optimism aside, we still exchange many gifts in our family, and I received some very nice goodies for Christmas. Some of the hightlights include; Mute Math’s concert DVD Flesh and Bones Electric Fun, the Band of Brothers Box Set on DVD, the The Godfather Trilogy on DVD, U2′s Remastered 20th Anniversary Edition 2-CD release of Joshua Tree, and a sweet new coat.

What were your favorites?

Filed under: Band of Brothers, Christmas, Culture, Godfather, Movies, Mute Math, Presents, U2

We Can Do Better Than This

Continuing the sentiment of the previous post, here’s a great song that sums up what I’m trying to say, and do, regarding Christmas.

Nuisance — John Reuben

So here we are in the same old spot,
knowing something needs to happen but our mouths are locked.
tongue tied, closed tight, sealed shut yup.
I tried hard,
but it just wouldn’t come up.
It’s on the tip of my tongue,
it’s in the front of my mind.
But the words were still so hard to find.
Finally the reality of things to come pushed me to the edge.
I jumped off the cliff into the abyss as I said,

I’m not trying to be a nuisance.
I just think we can do better than this.
That was simply my two cents.
You can, you can, take it or leave it.

The conversation lingered on and on,
Before I knew it, night had turned to dawn.
We’ll be searching for the truth in all of this
ha, or are we debating, just to win the argument.
Cause none of us wanna hear about where we go wrong.
This song could easily be from me to you, or me to john.
Cause I have the potential, to be the guiltiest.
My greatest strength is also my strongest weakness.

I’m not trying to be a nuisance.
I just think we can do better than this.
That was simply my two cents.
You can, you can, take it or leave it.

Let’s think about this path that we’re taking,
Let’s think about this future we’re creating.
Let’s think about this life that is fading,
Think about it
Come on, think about now

Lets think about this time we’re spending,
Investing in monetary things that are ending.
Let’s think about it then.
Let’s think together.
Let’s think about what we can do to make it better.

I’m not trying to be a nuisance.
I just think we can do better than this.
That was simply my two cents.
You can, you can, take it or leave it.

Filed under: Christmas, Consumerism, Giving, John Reuben, Lyrics, Music

I Killed Santa & I’m Back At Work

Most of my readers are probably still sleeping now, but I’m one of the few working class hero’s strapped to my desk this morning. I’m taking one for the team. You’re welcome.

I didn’t really kill santa, but I got close. Last year Tonia and I thought Tanner had way too much of a whirlwind of presents and parties, and we had to change something. So this year we started the slow process of weaning ourselves from certain traditions that we’ve come accustomed to.

Tradition 1 — Santa Is Everywhere!
Every year we would spend the night at my parents house, and wake up and do Christmas. And then the next day we would do the same thing at Tonia’s parents house. For starters, this gets really confusing to Tanner as to where santa is, and was, and will be. Secondly, it really gives him no opportunity to thank the people that are showering him with gifts. So we have stopped spending the night anywhere, and now only wake up at our own house on Christmas day. This is so much more relaxing and easier to explain.

Tradition 2 — Santa’s Not Rich.
Besides both sets of grandparents, Tanner also has great grandparents and at least 5 sets of aunts and uncles living within 10 miles of us. All of that adds up to Tanner having a small ownership stake in Toys R Us. So Tonia and I have decided to scale back his expectations from Santa. This year his favorite gift cost us nothing—a set of Star Wars characters I collected in college.

Tradition 3 — Jesus Who?
Our church’s theme this Christmas was Radical Christmas. It was radical in that we were focusing on giving presents to Jesus this year. Our mission was to scale back our gifts to others, perhaps even making something with our hands to save money, and then use what we would have spent on a present to Jesus. We based our gift on the scripture that Jesus said if you give a gift of water in his name, you are giving it to him. So we partnered with Children with Hope, and 100% of our offerings will go toward building a well for an orphanage in Africa. This will become a tradition in our house. It might be some other way each year, but we will definitely be adding Jesus to the gift list each year.

Believe it or not, we took some slack for some of our ideas. Traditions can be deep rooted, and we understand that. We can’t expect everyone to change their ideas the same time we do. Shoot, it took us this long ourselves. But we hope to continue revising our focus, and hopefully shaking free from more consumer driven, and busy-body Christmas holidays.

Filed under: Africa, Christmas, Consumerism, Giving, Holidays, Jesus

Christmastime

My all-time favorite Christmas song. Christmastime by Smashing Pumpkins.

Filed under: Christmas, Music, Smashing Pumpkins, YouTube

Christmas Love

(Paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13)

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows, strands of twinkling lights, and shiny balls, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen, baking dozens of Christmas cookies, preparing gourmet meals, and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime, but do not show love to my family, I’m just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen, carol in the nursing home, and give all that I have to charity, but do not show love to my family, it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes, attend a myriad of holiday parties, and sing in the choir’s cantata but do not focus on Christ, I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the spouse.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn’t envy another’s home that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn’t yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn’t give only to those who are able to give in return but rejoices in giving to those who can’t.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break, pearl necklaces will be lost, golf clubs will rust, but giving the gift of love will endure.

Filed under: Christmas, Love

DJ Riko – Merry Mixmas

It’s your lucky day friends! I was just introduced to some sweet, and FREE, Christmas mixes.

The DJ Riko Merry Mixmas collection is a holiday tradition that dates back to 2002, and the 2007 Mixmas is available now.

It features tunes created decades ago and tunes created days ago. It has songs ranging from sincere to silly to sublime, covering many different musical styles and coming from many locations around the world.

You can download all of the Merry Mixmas collections through the Merry Mixmas home page.

Here is the tracklist for Merry Mixmas 2007:

01. Lead Belly – Christmas is A-Coming
02. DJ Riko featuring Marcie – Hey Mister Santa
03. Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra – Jingle Bells
04. The Cartwrights – Merry Christmas, Neighbor
05. Rubber Band – Silent Night
06. Luis Miguel – Santa Claus Llego a la Ciudad
07. Bruce Haack & Ted Pandel – Ebenezer Electric Pro-Log
08. Famous People – Holiday Greetings
09. Cheap Trick – Come On Christmas
10. Candy Hoyte – Longtime Christmas
11. Richard Cheese – Do They Know It’s Christmas
12. Andre Williams aka Rudibaker – Christmas Wish
13. Speedy Gonzales – The Hat I Got for Christmas is too Beeg
14. Halo Benders – Snowfall
15. Staple Singers – Who Took the Merry out of Christmas
16. Lenny Dee – Mister Santa
17. Cuba L.A. – Good King Wenceslas
18. The Lovers – Christmas Tree
19. H2O Phlo – The Season Christmas Lime (feat. Baron)
20. The Autumn Teen Sound – Christmas Wish
21. The Enchanters – Mambo Santa Mambo
22. Hello Saferide – iPod X-Mas
23. Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass – Sleigh Ride
24. Phil Spector – Silent Night
25. Glenn Miller – Auld Lang Syne

Filed under: Christmas, Music