IS CHRISTMAS WORTH IT?

 

Now that it's over, was this Christmas worth it? The work, the travel delays, the risk of spreading or catching Covid, the worry, the rush, the mess, maybe even the loneliness. Last year we threw ourselves into the pre-vaccine-outdoors-firepit-Christmas. It was a challenge to be met and we met it. 

This year, well, like other years it depends upon our expectations, doesn't it?  If we expected every gift given or received to be just what was wanted, that probably didn't happen.  If we expected no disappointments over who was vaccinated or wasn't, only the most homogeneous families pass that test.  If, on the other hand, all were on best behavior; no disparities among family members emerged; no questions arose, even silent ones, about whose bad habits were evident again; no one drank too much; in other words, if there was not one thing to overlook or minimize or justify:  now that would be a perfect Christmas. 

Or would it?  We would still miss those who are absent, the empty chair or two.  Grief takes no holiday.  We would still remember when we were children ourselves and believed in Santa and fairies and magic; when whatever worries there were weren't our worries.  We would remember, if we're lucky, when there was always a live tree, gigantic and fresh, dripping with old-fashioned ornaments. We would feel time passing, as the children get older and the parents and grandparents come nearer to their final stages.  

Christmas carries so much freight.  Some of us (like me) throw ourselves in to it.  I have Christmas dishes, Christmas candles, Christmas throw pillows . . . . I begin clipping holly and pine boughs the weekend after Thanksgiving. I hang cards on a string. Some others of us, do less.  No tree. Maybe a poinsettia, or a table-top manger.   

But if we expected the angels to sing and the baby to be born we were not disappointed.  If we expected love to shine through every awkwardness or worse, that probably happened.  If we expected forgiveness to be circling like drifting clouds, it's never too late to put that in motion.  If something good happened that wasn't looked for, well that was nice.  If we noticed our blessings--enough to eat, shelter, someone or two showing us love, "Silent Night" by candlelight, a tree and a few presents, the security of faith in a God who is with us in joy and in sorrow--in that case who wouldn't say that Christmas was worth it? 

Who wouldn't say that reaching out and reaching in during the darkest days of winter wasn't the best thing ever to do?  If all you want to know is that a baby is born who on Good Friday will die and on Easter rise again, and that each of us moves from this earth to Eternal Life, then this Christmas was, like all the others, an affirmation.  If all you expect is on this Christmas to give your all for yourself and for those you love, or even just know; to be one with God and creation; to accept your life as it is and make it the best of it that you can, then this Christmas was worth it.  

If you believe no longer in Santa Claus, but in Christ our Savior who is willing to spend every moment of every day by your side, then this Christmas was worth it.  

In peace, Nina Naomi