10 Things That Make Me Joyful: Number 9

9. A simple, traditional, historically rooted Christmas. A Christmas based on Christ and family, not on presents, not on vacations, not on parties or snowmen or scarlet-olfactoried caribou… A Christmas rich in time spent with family and friends, but a Christmas that never forgets the “reason for the season,” as they say. A clichéd expression perhaps, but true nonetheless. One walks into a shopping center or a doctor’s office and hears the most sterile, nonreligious, unmeaningful Christmas songs one can think of. No mention of Christ or the Magi, no passionate acceptance of light in the midst of a dark and dying world, no allusion to Mary or Joseph…even the Santa Claus references are fewer and farther between. The religious freedom we have in America allows us to celebrate the holidays any way we darn well please: profoundly religious, materialistically secular, somewhere in between (my favorite place to be, I suppose), or not at all. Not being the most active Christian myself, I find it very important to do whatever I can at Christmastime to honor the real spirit of the holiday. Without honoring the Advent of Christ, it seems shallow at best, downright blasphemous at worst, to even think of celebrating Christmas.

One reads this and probably thinks, “Wow, how boring and antiquated.” Yes, that’s the point. As much as I love outrageous Christmas comedies like Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation; as much as I like tackily-decorated houses with giant inflatable Santas and snowmen and multicolored strands of lights; as much as I enjoy getting piles of presents I don't deserve (which will not be happening anytime soon for me, thank you very much); as much as I would like to escape the frigid madness of December in Michigan for a few days in Florida or elsewhere, I have to say that Christ and compassion are beginning to outweigh those other considerations. This life is too short, this holiday is too sacred, the people in my life mean too much to simply ignore them. I won’t belabor the point with impassioned soapbox pleas about the evil war on Christmas (though I believe there is such a thing), but just figure I’ll share my love for this holiday and my need to indulge in its simple, majestic beauty as much as possible. I'll be doing my usual Yuletide traditions this year: rereading A Christmas Carol, listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra, laughing at holiday-themed jokes...but I sincerely hope for my own sake, and that of those around me, that I can keep the Nativity Scene first and foremost on my mind on December 25.