The umbrella term of “the holidays” was, for me, like any other child, one of the greatest times of the year. Everybody was at home. We were warm, taken care of and together. For me, though, one holiday really stood out the most, and I’ve clung to this one as one of the most valuable days in each of my years: Thanksgiving.
We always had this rule at my house: Christmas will not start until the day after Thanksgiving. And we can all quote my mother by incessantly saying, “We’ve got to be thankful first.”
Recently, I’ve come to admire the truth in her creed so much more. As time has progressed, the public has become accustomed to seeing Halloween decorations by the first of October, and Christmas trees go up on the first of November. (Unless, of course, it’s Cracker Barrel, and they’re up by the first of September.)
There is no longer any emphasis on that holiday in between. Thanksgiving is so often thrown by the wayside as a barrier to the Christmas decorations. Why do I make such an assumption, you may ask? Because there’s nothing to buy or sell or get or want.
The mass public has become so self-absorbed and so materialistic that a simple day to prayerfully consider blessings is just too much of a hassle. It’s being treated like another federal holiday to get the day off from work. People go to Grandma’s and eat her food in between football games, and more often than not, most never take the time to say, “thank you,” or pray over that meal.
We teach our children, these days, to dress up in costumes and ask for candy from strangers. Then television companies show endless streams of horror movies, celebrating fear and darkness. Supernatural battles are bought and sold in every movie theater across the country, and things that “go bump in the night” are considered funny.
Even on Easter, children run down the stairs to find a basket of eggs and chocolate from a rabbit. Then, we put those kids in bow-ties and suspenders and make them walk into church for maybe the third time in the year. We glare at the preacher for going over his allotted hour, peering down at our watches every five minutes, wondering about our burning pot roast. That bunny in his bright colors is just another way to avoid the truth of the resurrection of Jesus–what Paul tells us is the point of the Gospel!
By the day after Halloween, there are snowmen and Grinch blow-ups in the garden center of Walmart, and every commercial on TV displays something else to buy. During this time, we teach our children to hope in agony that they have been good enough to deserve the good will and favor of a false deity that breaks into their homes at midnight on every Christmas Eve. We perpetuate a consumerist and commercialized ideology toward Christmas without bothering to get too deep into the true Christmas story as outlined in Luke 2.
The modern Christmas has become just an avenue to negate the concept of grace as designed by God. Teaching children about deserving a gift is not what it was intended to be. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The ceremonial giving of gifts was to be a reflection on that grace, a symbol of the ultimate gift of the person of Jesus, the offering for the remission of sin. This is something that none of us–certainly not me–would ever deserve, but God chose to give it out of love. My friends, that is Christmas.
Thanksgiving, while it’s important to remember the turkey with the Pilgrims and the Indians, is not just about what we are thankful for, but it is, rather, a consideration of the wonderful and graceful God to whom we are thankful. This is why the contemporary world ignores it. It’s reflective and humbling, reminding us of how in need of grace we really are.
While it is certainly okay to enjoy the Christmas music, the football games, Grandma’s pie, the uncle’s uncomfortable jokes and the symbol of gift-giving, let us train our minds on that forgotten holiday near the end of November, and if only for a little while, let’s count our blessings, yes. But let’s also pray to the One who blessed us. We can always watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” tomorrow.
– By Julie Williams, Copy Editor
