advent conspiracy

I love Christmas. I love the carols, the lights on the trees, the smell of evergreen in the house, eggnog, sparkling cider, and the Christmas goodies. I love remembering my first Christmas after I accepted Christ and the wonder I felt when singing familiar songs that had suddenly took on new meaning. I love the biblical accounts of the nativity. I love the fact that we have a day to celebrate Jesus' birth (even if he wasn't actually born on December 25th). I love that I serve a God who entered human history as a God-man.

I do not love the stress and politics of gift giving. I know - it is supposed to be fun. And I believe that there must be people who truly think it is fun to think of some wonderful gift for Aunt Jane or Brother in Law Joe, whom you barely have anything in common with and really do not know that well. To those people - perhaps you are a better person than I am. Truly, I mean that. Maybe there is something deeply and selfishly wrong with me that the above experience is one that I dread.

Or maybe I just long for a more meaningful way to celebrate Christmas? Maybe it is a little of both.

In any case, this year our tight finances forced us out of the majority of the stress and politics of gift giving. My heart is alternately light with my newfound freedom, and heavy with the guilt over being so happy.

But seriously, why do we as Christians give gifts to every person we know at Christmas time? Sunday school answer: Jesus was given as a gift to us; therefore we give gifts to others.

My answer? We're selfishly buying into consumerism without thinking about it. And, it turns out, I am not the only one who is thinking about this. Here's another idea for how to redeem Christmas; by entering into the lives of those we love and those we do not even know - just as God entered into our lives and our world on Christmas Day.

Advent Conspiracy