07 December 2009

Boogie Woogie Santa Claus

How is it we celebrate Christmas – decorate trees, go power shopping, write letters to a fat man in a red suit, drink eggnog, smooze at company cocktail parties, etc. – and celebrate the birth of Jesus on the same day? Talk about poor planning. Who has time to celebrate both?

One of my favorite bloggers, nAncy, brought this up in a recent blog post and it got me thinking.

Every year we hear some variant of the campaign: Keep the Christ in Christmas. And, although the original intent of Christmas was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, and some traditionalists still do, Christmas has kind of . . . evolved, to put it nicely.

To be honest, I love the secular side of Christmas, too. That song about grandma getting ran over by a reindeer, still makes me laugh. And, I dance to Boogie-Woogie Santa Claus, sometimes with a glass of Eggnog in my hand . . . when my more pious Christian brothers and sisters are not watching. The Bible says we shouldn’t antagonize them.

Still, the reason I celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Savior. It is not that I shouldn’t work to put Christ back into Christmas, which is so important. But, even more important, I need to put Christ back into my everyday life the other eleven months of the year.

If I am really good all year long, Santa will bring me a gift . . . cool. But with Jesus, when I believe, even if I mess up here and there, I get the gift of eternal life . . . better.

I’d trade out Santa for Jesus any day.

7 comments:

  1. Absolutely. Take the world (& Santa), but give me Jesus. :)

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  3. I'd trade out Santa for Jesus every day of the week and twice on Fridays!

    I'd like to hear your eggnog fueled rendition of Boogie-Woogie Santa Claus :-)

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  4. It's not that I shouldn’t work to put Christ back into Christmas ... I need to put Christ back into my everyday life the other eleven months of the year

    Russell, by the grace of God, with His strength, I honestly try to do that. My kids occasionally roll their eyes at me, but they and my husband are pretty much used to it. Most people actually seem to enjoy the Christ(mas) Spirit I carry with me. I'm grateful to Jesus that He puts something so precious in my heart, and somehow allows me to pull that off.

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  5. Thanks Anne! Stay the light on the hill you are! Your family ultimately appreciates it... :-)

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