Its only the beginning of Christmas Time!

I love the last two months of the year. It begins with my birthday and finishes with Christmas. I have always made it tradition to pull out my Christmas CD's after my birthday on November 4. This is a great time of year to celebrate and be thankful but what have I heard this Christmas season. Heres a few things:

"Are you enjoying the holidays?"
"I can't wait for them to be over.....seriously."

"I have to go shopping now so I can get the goods deals."

"I hope it snows so I don't have to go anywhere on Christmas."

"I don't like the holidays, its too stressful to buy all the gifts and have to worry about the
money."

The holidays aren't about shopping, deals, money, or even snow. The holidays are about family, friends, generosity, and most importantly Jesus. We have commercialized Christmas to a point where people seem to believe it can be taken away if we don't have gifts, food, or decorations. I encourage everyone to watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in a new way and instead of relating to the who's and getting mad at the Grinch, compare yourself to the Grinch and ask yourself what can you learn from the Grinch. Now don't get me wrong, I don't believe Americans are all the Grinch. I just think ALL of us have moments where we are the Grinch, for example, trampling a man to death to save a dollar at Walmart. Another classic Christmas time movie is Charlie Brown's Christmas. I think everyone knows the premise. Charlie Brown is searching for the meaning of Christmas through Christmas Trees, Christmas plays, and Christmas lights. He never found the answer until Linus read Luke 2.

Luke 2

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."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

There is nothing wrong with shopping, giving gifts, searching for deals, etc. Christmas is supposed to bring up feelings of generosity and the desire to give and help. The issue is when we consume ourselves with all these things and over extend ourselves trying to meet the lofty expectations we set for ourselves resulting in stress, sickness, and distaste for the holidays. If you can't give or can give only very little the people you would normally give to will understand and may even be willing to help you. I guess the real point of all this is to make people think about the holidays and what they are centering the holidays around.

Lets play "Deal or No Deal," only two cases, case #1 has all kinds of things, possessions, lights, and probably a few credit card bills. Case # 2 is more of a mystery, but you know it has family, friends, Jesus, a few gifts, and yes probably a few expenditures but probably more manageable.

Witch Case do you want?

I'll take Case #2.