It seems Christmas begins earlier every year. I was shocked this year to see Christmas decorations for sale even before Halloween. I wrote this last year addressing the secularization of Christmas.
As Christmas approaches, we see lighted decorations pop up around town and in people’s houses. These appear as early as mid-November when the weather turns a bit colder. Even though we call them Christmas decorations, many of them bring to mind mostly the winter season, they create a “winter wonderland.”
I heard in a children’s TV show not too long ago a line that went something like this, “we have learned the true meaning of Christmas, it is to love one another and to be generous.” Is this the true meaning of Christmas or the meaning of a “winter wonderland” celebration? The problem with the line from the children’s show is not that it’s completely wrong; what’s wrong is that it doesn’t go far enough.
There are many good aspects of the winter wonderland celebration and wishing other people “happy holidays,” but these only skim the surface. What we celebrate at Christmas is the love God has for us, a love so intense that He sent His only son to us and is now calling us to respond by loving Him and our neighbor. This truth goes far beyond simply loving one another and being generous because we want to be nice in a winter wonderland. We love one another and are generous because we recognize Jesus Himself in every single human being and because we are called by Him to love all as He does.
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