Let's Return to The Simplicity of Christmas

The last couple of days I've read and listened in disbelief to the stories of sleep deprived, irritated, angry and out-of-their-mind shoppers on Black Friday. Their behavior is incomprehensible. Ever since I read last year about the store employee trampled to death by sale obsessed shoppers as the doors were opened I've thought we'd certainly lost our minds. How could person after person run over the top of another human being with no regard for their safety or welfare, all in the name of getting a few dollars off? Have we completely lost all grip on reality?

This year people were pepper sprayed, bloodied, robbed and looted all in the name of getting the best bargain for Christmas. Has everyone forgotten what Christmas is really all about? Is there no goodwill to be found?

The last few years I have been fairly uninterested in all the Christmas hoopla. There are several reasons for that and not one of them means I have grown to hate Christmas. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The year Steve was in Iraq it didn't make sense to put up a tree and decorate knowing I would be spending the holidays elsewhere. That's what started my trek to a simpler Christmas. Then a couple of years ago marked the beginning of my health decline and I did not have the energy to get out of the chair, let alone decorate the house. So we didn't. But we still celebrated what Christmas is really about, just without all the modern day fanfare. We didn't even buy presents that year. And we survived. Dare I say thrived?

In those days Caesar August issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone went to his hometown to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." ~ Luke 2:1-12

This is the very meaning of Christmas. While all those shoppers seek to find the "perfect" gift for over-indulged children and adults alike, the truth is the "perfect" gift was a one time occurrence. This time of year so many are stressed, frustrated, angry and depressed. There isn't enough money, not enough gifts when really we have far too much. People seek to find happiness in getting and giving when the real happiness is found in receiving.....receiving that perfect gift God gave us so long ago--a Savior born in a manger, wrapped in cloths. Simplicity is the very way Christmas began. We have complicated it.

And so I call for a return to the simplicity of Christmas.