“In Defense of Christmas Cheer”

So now we’re past Thanksgiving.

To me, that legitimates the beginning of Christmas carols, lights, and decorations.

I’ve not been happy to see Christmas advertisements and shopping extend back earlier and earlier in the year — only 364 shopping days ’til Xmas! — often into October and sometimes even into September.  Too much exposure dulls the power of the holiday.

And I’m as likely as most to decry the commercialism and rampant consumerism that attend the celebration of Christ’s birth.  In recent years, I’ve typically written blog entries and at least one column trying to recall the profound significance of his incarnation; I’m sure that I’ll do so again this year.

It’s not only the United States, by the way.  Christmas lights have been all over here in Spain on the streets and in shops, and I’ve been hearing Christmas carols since we arrived — in a country that, like the rest of Europe, is increasingly post-Christian.  Not quite entirely so, however; cultural Christianity (at the least) is still alive at this time of year:  The streets near the entrance to the Cathedral of Seville were occupied with dozens of temporary booths selling nativity sets.

There is, in any event, reason to criticize some aspects of the modern Western observance of Christmas.

But I also strongly agree with this little article:

http://blogs.thegospelcoalition.org/trevinwax/2015/11/24/in-defense-of-christmas-cheer/

Let the celebration begin!

Watch It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.  Sing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  (Does anybody, by the way, really like roasted chestnuts?  Yuck.)  Put huge plastic Santas on your front lawn and light them up at night.

In my house, though, we’re also going to read Luke’s Christmas story and listen to Händel’s Messiah.

I wish everyone out there a joyous Christmas season.

Posted from Madrid, Spain