A New Look At Christmas

Now that our children have grown and gone, we have the opportunity to re-evaluate some of our lifestyle habits and change them. A few years ago we took a second look at how we celebrated Christ's birth at Christmas and become dissatisfied with society's traditions, especially the feverish, stressful ones.

One decision we made two years ago is this: we no longer exchange gifts with anyone. Gift giving no longer has any meaning for society and has lost it's meaning for most Christians. The "Christmas Rush" has just gotten rediculous! Children look at Christmas as a time to get presents, instead of it's true meaning, that of worshipping and praising Christ for His birth and most precious gift to us.

This one change has made our holidays much more peaceful, with no worry about what to buy for anyone who will be giving to us, making sure what we give is equal and appreciated, last minute shopping in the long lines and noisy crowded stores and where we will get the money for all of this. We don't go near the stores during the holidays now. It also puts any guests at ease about gift giving. No one need worry about forgetting a gift, or deciding what to bring. No more gift giving related stress at all, for anyone!

We only wonder why we didn't stop doing this sooner! What a great change this has made! We now enjoy our peaceful time off praising Him for His gift and enjoying the company of a few small family members who come for a small and quiet, simple meal.

We don't load everyone up with food anymore and only cook a turkey if we feel like it (Great roast beef this year!). Easy simplicity is what we have at our meals during the Christmas holidays. This way, even the mom and cook get to relax and enjoy some vacation time at home.

Children will react to the quiet, serene environment by quieting down themselves, especially if candy is not everpresent. Just because it's the Christmas holidays does not mean one can load up on sugar and forget to eat properly! Nor is it a reason to replace all one's "still perfectly good" toys with new ones. If you use Christmas as a time to get presents of things you really need, keep this in mind: Everything is a lot cheaper after Christmas!

We also don't have a tree and didn't bother putting up any decorations this year. Christmas trees are not a celebration of Christ's birth, so we don't bother anymore. We just don't have time for it and living out in the boondocks, as we do, no one sees the decorations anyway. (It might be different if we lived in town, but that will never happen again!) I did think about putting a big red bow on the mailbox, but never did get to it. Decorating is just not that important anymore. The Christmas holidays have a whole new meaning now!

Is it time you took a closer look at how Christmas is being celebrated in your home? Society as a whole has dropped "Christmas" anyway and has just started calling this giant frenzy "The Holidays". Another reason to drop out of it altogether...

Should I be saying "Bah! Humbug!"