catapult magazine

my mom asked me an interesting question this morning and i thought i’d post it here to see what the *cino community thinks:

what is your favorite thing about christmas? what is your least favorite?

first to respond! : )

one of the things i like least about the christmas season is the sheer insanity of what we’ve made this thing to be. i know it might be cliche, but it really hit me last year when kirstin and i had the opportunity for a contemplative christmas. we had just moved to kirstin’s grandparents’ summer cottage in michigan, on a lake few people live on year-round. our surroundings went a long way to help us slow down and reflect on the significance of Christ’s birth. unfortunately, we’re back to busyness this year.

my favorite thing about christmas is the wonder of incarnation. it is absolutely incredible how the whole christmas story unfolds and i find it amazing. of course, a contemplative season is a lot more conducive to reaching this realization, which leaves me longing for last year’s simple solitude.

My least favorite part of Christmas, second only to seeing disgusting amounts of merchandise everywhere, is the emergence of my husband’s collection of Star Trek ornaments.

My favorite part of Christmas, second only to the joy of Christ’s birth, is singing Christmas songs in church. It’s probably the one time all year when everyone’s giving it all they’ve got, barely looking at the hymnal, singing their hearts out. Yep, singing “Joy to the World” always gets me a little misty.

My least favorite thing about Christmas time is the insane amount of air time dedicated to Christmas music starting the day afte Thanksgiving (and on one station locally the beginning of November). By the time Christmas rolls around I feel like the contemporary spirit of christmas has beat the life out of the Spirit of Christmas.

The best thing about Christmas is sharing the true meaning of this wonderful rememberance with my two sons (ages 3 & 2), and also hearing them tell their toys, friends (and in some cases imaginary friends) about how “Christmas is a birthday party for the Baby Jesus who now live in our hearts and with God.” I am still unsure as to where they believe the Baby Jesus’ primary residence is…but they have got the gist of it and that is what parenting is all about.

well, i gave it some thought and here they are. they’re a bit contradictory, but we are generally paradoxical creatures, after all.

my least favorite things about Christmas is probably all of the excesses—the traffic, the trash, the activities, and even some of the gift-giving. it all seems to distract from the outward focus of the holiday, disguising itself as expressions of sacrifice and love, while really exposing how gluttonous and self-centered we can be. it doesn’t seem right that others should suffer (particularly God’s creation and individuals in poverty who produce our gifts in unjust conditions) as a result of our celebrating the Savior who was born to make all things right.

on a more positive note, my favorite thing about Christmas is the spirit of anticipation and hope. for believers and non-believers alike, there’s a sense around the holidays that we can achieve a better world and this is reflected in the amount of charitable giving that occurs. for the better part of the year, the problems of poverty, homelessness, and hunger are so overwhelming, and the need for help only seems to increase around the holidays (trust me—i’ve gotten 5 calls for assistance in the past two days). but because people express a willingness to give and work together during the holidays, there’s hope for both those who help and those who need help that if we just pool our resources, we can solve these problems. that hope, whether we acknowledge it or not, is inherent in the origin of the holiday when the simple occurence of a baby born in a humble barn transformed the entire world, including every person alive and not yet living! by remembering that story again and again, we relive the anticipation of the event foretold in the knowledge that the smallest actions can have great impact.

My least favorite thing about Christmas is the pressure I feel(probably self-induced) to get really great, meaningful gifts for the people in my life that I really don’t know that well. It’s stressful, because I have absolutely no clue what they would want (and I’m pretty sure that they wouldn’t like anything I would want). Dealing with a holiday budget is also stressful, as neither I nor my husband are paid over the Christmas break. And, uh, we haven’t actually made a holiday budget.

My favorite part of Christmas is that it gives us time to rest and be rejuvinated and slow down. That and the music.

I think I like excesses. I felt very Christmasy this year when I bought more on “buy nothing day” than in the last five years combined. I know it’s not really “the true reason for the season”, but it is kind of nice to get and give—but especially to get—lots of things that you don’t expect to get. The “expectations” of giving and getting are what seems to make things so stressful. It would be much truer to the season if everyone forgot that Christmas was coming every year and then, surprise! a tree with lights is up in your living room and there are gifts under the tree for you and then to find out again that the Savior was born and that He will give us peace on earth, free of charge. Then our expectations will always be met, which is also, I guess, a big part of what Christmas is all about. So maybe the problem isn’t with expectations, but with meeting those expectations every year. We need to somehow renew a sense of exceeded expectations, and that can be really difficult year after year at Christmas time. I’m going to try to expect nothing and see what happens this year.

Having said all that, another favorite thing about Christmas is waiting for it to come.

I agree with Grant about excesses. My favorite part of Christmas is all the people having a good time. I love sitting around talking to people I haven’t seen in a long time, drinking a beer, and laughing. There’s nothing to do today, and nothing to do tomorrow, except enjoy life for a while. It’s like an extended Sabbath. In some ways it reminds me of the rest we will have in heaven, living life unfettered by worry and sin.

I think my least favorite part of Christmas is how distracted I can become. I get caught up in all the excitement that is supposed to drive me to Christ, and focus instead on these transitory blessings. I appreciate this thread for that reason, it helps remind me of the reason I have so much hope this time of year.