I really wanted a Christmas-type emoji for something I was writing for this happy Christmas season, and all I could find was the face of santa, a fir tree, and two dudes in santa hats! 🤶🧑🏻‍🎄 Yeah. That says it all doesn’t it? Sigh. In our local mega-shopping centre we still actually do still have a nativity scene – it is safely tucked away, mostly hidden, behind the escalators. 🙄 In one place in Scotland they have banned nativity scenes, in case they offend someone. Score a sad and sorry point for the fat guy in the red suit!  That darn frog has been in the water far too long – we dun boiled the life out of it.

Sigh again.🙄 Maybe the retail sales people are scared of sales dropping off if the ACTUAL nativity – the reason for this season (!) was featured. Perhaps it would overwhelm those billions of baubles, twinkly lights, tinsel and so-called Christmas spirit – some of which comes gift wrapped, or even in handy containers! 🍺 Recently I went looking for Christmas cards and couldn’t find any that had a Christian scene on it in my local shops. I found holly, various snowy scenes somewhere or other – who knows where (!), gum leaves, koalas, kangaroos, beach scenes, flowers (!!??) 😳 … Um … since when is Christmas about native flora and fauna? I think it is – outside of our churches – Christmas is not about Jesus anymore. 

It seems the Western world has become obsessed with the idea of Christmas … but the reality has disappeared into the mists of time. Along with dodos, unicorns, personal responsibility and gobs of money! We’ve stopped marvelling at the fact that God Himself did something so incredible it almost burst our educated-idiot boxes, a-n-d … we’ve gone for immediate personal self-gratification instead! Yay US!! BTW, here’s a thought. Since when would you let your mum or dad drag out your baby photos on your birthday? Well HE’S not a BABY either. We sure have let stuff slide haven’t we?

I think I might be up for the the Grinch award. Hilariously, according to his wife, the real Grinch lives next door! For years our dear helpful and loving Buddhist neighbour was against putting up Christmas lights at all, and then we moved in. Boy did we rain on his parade. Oh my. Funny thing that, he constantly tells us how much he loves our lights! People don’t know what they do or don’t want. We need to pray like mad that the Holy Spirit comes with us to Aunt Marigold and Uncle Harold’s house – so the right spirit will prevail.

Meanwhile, I can reassure you that I am not against celebrating Christmas one bit – fa-lah lah lah lah 🎶 and all that. It’s just that I think we’ve moved wa-ay too far past singing carols outside other people’s houses, to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas, and ended up buying out the shops and maxing out our credit cards for the next couple of generations. Since when did Jesus … Who is called our consolation, become “stuff?” What are we teaching our kids? How to live beyond their means??? Hmmm. That did sound kind of Grinch-like …maybe some Grinch atmosphere has oozed over the neighbour’s mutual fence. Good!

Well, at our house we’ve decided to see Christmas as an opportunity to bless people. So we buy boxes of chocolates, tracts, pass-it-on cards and soft drinks on special, and then give them away to the people who do the grunt work to make all our homes function. EG: the garbage men, the guys at our local chemist, the meter man, people who bang on your door to sell you things, including alternative religions, delivery men, and the postie. That’s quite a few people we can bless, and talk to about the Lord. We don’t push anyone, but if they happen to ask a question – serves ‘em right! 🤣

The thing is, as Christians we need to deliberately and intentionally switch our POV away from any so-called inconvenience that requires effort ...over to God-given opportunities. We’ve been caught up in the buy buy buy Christmas rush too. I want to weep when I hear little ones talking about how santa is so cool, he’s going to bring them this and that. We’ve let our enemy over-run us and now the enemy IS US. Only God Himself can help us regain the ground we have lost. It seems it is time to repent, yet again. Hallelujah! Isn’t it wonderful, that our God can do anything. 👋🏻  

PS Handy hint for Christmas difficulties. When confronted by a disgruntled, contentious, difficult, grumpy person I am learning to tell myself: “I’m hanging on to my peace, you can’t have it, my GOD gave it to me, and  it is too valuable to give away to someone who wants to rob me of it.”