Warm Christmas greetings! How are your preparations for Christmas this year going? Hopefully you’re finding time to embrace the season in all its complexity: the expectant waiting, the preparing of gifts, the earlier and earlier closing in of darkness and the celebration of the light, looking forward to spending time with family (yes, even the difficult folks), and the joy of Christmas carols and jingle bells.
Christmas, more than any of our big holidays, is a time of looking backward. Yes, of course, we look back millennia to the birth of the Christ-child, but we also look back to those warm memories of being a child and waiting for Santa to arrive, of making cookies with Mom or Grandma, of caroling up and down the street while your nose got red. It seems like all of my memories of our late-night Christmas Eve worship end with a light snow falling as we left the church. (I KNOW that they can’t have all been snowy, but that’s what my memories tell me.) Perhaps we remember that perfect gift that we received — for me, it was an Easy-Bake Oven.
We remember when our children were younger and trying to get them all bundled up and out the door to Christmas Eve worship. We remember the joy of getting them the perfect Christmas gift and seeing the excitement on their faces. Maybe we remember the traditions that were unique to our families. (Jesus birthday cake and birthday party, anyone?) We spent time together picking out the perfect Christmas tree and decorating it with a nice cup of hot chocolate afterward. We spent quality time together making memories. Maybe that’s what Christmas 2022 is like for you. You’ve got little ones at home and get to see Christmas through their eyes.
But perhaps you’re someone who never had children or never married. Perhaps you’re a widow(er). Maybe you’re feeling a little alone this year. Christmas isn’t always warm and fuzzy. How do you bring joy into your Christmas? It might be time to reach out to others. Do you have a neighbor/friend/acquaintance who is also alone? Invite them over for a cup of tea or apple cider. Put on some Christmas music. Reminisce about what Christmas was like when you were younger. Convince a bunch of people from church or work to go to the nursing homes/senior apartments and do some Christmas caroling.
And maybe you’re not one of those folks who’s alone this Christmas, but you have an extra seat at your Christmas table or you are making up plates of cookies and there’s someone on your block you have never met or you convince the family to arrive early so you can sing carols by your neighbors front doors. Whatever you can do to make someone else’s Christmas a little brighter is one of the best gifts that we can give.
God bless! And MERRY CHRISTMAS!
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kelly Jahn is pastor of the Juda Zion and Oakley Union United Methodist Churches.
