So, This Is Christmas?

Well, it's the Christmas season again.

I'm going to be frank with ya'll; I don't get Christmas. This holiday feels like a paradox someone else told me is important. Also, it must be celebrated in a certain way or else you aren't doing it right. If you don't put up a tree and deck your house with lights or buy gifts and love holiday songs you're some type of monster who has no kindness in your heart. I also don't get the extra concentrated effort to be kind and charitable toward your fellow man. Shouldn't you have a consistent amount of charity all year long? If you try super hard to be filled with charity for one month out of the year you will give yourself ulcers and come off as superficial.

I often wonder what this holiday is really about. In church we talk about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ and being grateful for the wonderful gift He has given us in Atoning for our sins....and that's about the only place we talk about it.

Starting in about seventh grade I really started disliking Christmas. I had way too many friends who would ask me what I got for Christmas only to interrupt me halfway through so they could tell me what they got. They didn't really care, they just wanted to brag about their gifts. This is why I don't usually ask people about the gifts they receive, it's really not important to me, nor do I think it should be.

Basically, I really despise the commercialism behind Christmas (or I should say blindingly put in front of it with gigantic neon signs advertising 50% OFF FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS!). This includes holiday songs. I worked in the mall for a few years, this is where I discovered that there's about 15 different Christmas songs and about 50 different variations of them that are played over and over and over again. (I must exclude Christmas hymns from this list, those mention Jesus and I'll discuss why I don't hate them later on).

If I had my way, gifts wouldn't factor into the equation during Christmas. We could still decorate a tree and deck the houses with lights because I do love Christmas decorations. But our time would be spent visiting our friends and family, baking tasty treats, and basically showing our love for one another the same way the Savior did: by listening to and caring for each person individually.

Let me tell you about the best Christmas I ever had. It was during the winter of 2009 while I was in the area of Racine/Kenosha, Wisconsin serving my mission. This is the only Christmas I've had that played out just the way I think it should. My fellow missionaries and I went Christmas caroling every single night from the day after Thanksgiving until New Years. The pages of my hymn book that are about the Savior's birth are all wrinkled from being snowed on while we would walk down streets singing to people on their door step. I saw countless miracles doing this. Christmas morning dawned with a few presents sent to me from home but I don't remember what they were (except I do remember my sister sent me an etch-a-sketch). The thing I am most grateful for on that day was getting to talk to my family. I also loved being with the members who were just happy to share a meal (or five) with us. It felt so right. In fact, when people hear that I served my mission in Wisconsin they usually ask me if it's really that horrifyingly cold there. I tell them it is because I'm sure it gets wretchedly cold but I personally don't remember it being too bad. I just remember being so happy.

I know someone out there just rolled their eyes and said something to the effect of "yes, but that was your mission and everyone loves their mission Christmas." Well, that may be true, but there's a reason for it: it's because missionaries are celebrating the Savior's birth by taking away the parts that have nothing to do with Him and sharing with the world a message of pure joy! Just as the angels did one evening to a group of shepherds many years ago.