Joshua’s Cape Rants, raves and insights from the kid who loved his cape.

Why I love Christmas (Part One)

Christmas is here! For me, Christmas is a long season. It starts shortly after Halloween and ends sometime in March. Well...March is usually when I get around to taking down the lights and the tree anyway.

Whenever I get excited about Christmas, I get a lot of moans and groans from people who 'hate the holidays.'

Every time I hear that it breaks my heart. I understand, people get stressed out and upset and don't have enough money and can't afford presents and don't know what they're going to do blah blah blah.

My Girlfriend decorating the Christmas tree at her house.

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm above presents. I love Christmas presents. I love giving them, I love getting them. I love shopping for them. But, I am also distinctly aware that presents are not the original motivation for the holiday. There are varying schools of thought on why Christmas is on December 25th, some claiming that it seems the most likely date of Christ's birth, others noting its proximity to the Roman sun holiday, claiming it was a paganization of the holiday in an attempt to appease the Romans and entice them to Catholicism. Regardless of why other people celebrate it, I celebrate it because it is the day I choose to recognize that my savior came down to live a human life to ultimately die for my sins.

What's so remarkable about Christmas is that it's the one holiday that focuses on the humanity of Jesus. Sure he was the Son of God and always carried that with Him, but He was also a little baby. Nestled in the arms of his mother on cold nights. He was a little kid who ran around and got dirty and messy. He was a 10 year old. He was a teenager. He lived! He walked around on the same terra firma that you and I are on right now! This, to me, is the essence of the holiday.

When you allow yourself to understand that Jesus really did live here,  he really did deal with things that humans deal with (granted, they were ancient Hebrew things, not 21st century American things, but still) it lends a lot more credibility to the statement that Jesus truly understands you.

I'll concede that Christmas has been over-commercialized and consumer-ized to the point that most people wouldn't mention Jesus when asked 'what is Christmas about?' But I will still put up lights and give presents to those I love.

Relient K's 'Celebrate the Day' sums up my feelings on Christmas quite well:

And the first time
That You opened Your eyes did You realize that You would be my Savior
And the first breath that left Your lips
Did You know that it would change this world forever

And I, I celebrate the day
That You were born to die
So I could one day pray for You to save my life

So if you're broke, skip the presents this year. If you're hungry, ask your neighbor if you can eat with them. If you're lonely, go to church. Someone there would be happy to take you in as their own this year.

I love Christmas.