Christmas Reflection

I led the service at our UU church last week and our minister asked me to write a reflection on how I felt about Christmas.

This was my reflection.


I love Christmas. I’m one of those people who start listening to Christmas carols when Thanksgiving isn’t quite over. I like to put up my tree as soon as possible and plan lots of parties.
I like Christmas because it is such a time of joy. I don’t really think much about the religious aspects of it. Sure, people can celebrate the birth of Jesus on this date if they like. I’m glad to have the opportunity to participate. There’s nothing wrong with it to me. Jesus was a very enlightened guy and he had a good message. I wish we had big parties to celebrate all the enlightened ones around here. I tried to throw a big Buddha day celebration last year, but it kind of fell flat.
I know that Christmas time is also hard on people. I understand their reasons. Maybe it makes them sad or cynical or just annoyed. I can’t speak for them. I don’t see it from their perspectives. I can only tell you how I see it.
I see the Christmas season as a season of opportunity. It’s an opportunity it give. And giving makes more giving. I don’t know how old I was when Christmas changed for me from being about what I got to being about what I gave, but I love it now. i can’t wait to see people’s faces when they see what I’ve chosen/made for them. I loved hearing my parents tell me how they gave their god-daughter a kitten as an early Christmas gift and she cried for joy and they cried for the joy they’d given her.
I love the opportunity that the season gives to spend with my friends. It’s an excuse to have a party. Lots of parties! And what are parties but a chance to laugh, sing, smile and relax with the people that we love.
I love the opportunity to sing and listen to music. Everyone is encouraged to carol or sing or play the piano or keep music in the house around the season. You should have seen all the grown-ups stop chatting and smile as the kids crowded around the piano last weekend at a party and sang Jingle Bells.
Children take so much joy from the season. And they give so much as well. The joy my children take as we drive around town after dark and they point out every Christmas light display gives me so much happiness.
There is a yin and yang of Christmas. I know this. I, too, am rushed and stressed and pushed to the boundaries of my budget, but these things that take time, the Christmas cards, the shopping, the throwing of parties, the hanging the lights- these are the things which give me and others so much joy. The Christmas season is a season of opportunity. The opportunity to choose to create and receive joy. It’s awesome.