Christmas Spirit

“I will honour Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” 
–Tiny Tim in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

Christmas is nearly upon us. How time goes so fast, I’ll never know. It seems but mere moments ago I was eleven or twelve and thought Christmas took forever to arrive, and now I stand amazed wondering where the year has gone. But I am not writing today to talk about the eccentricities of time. Rather, I’m here today to awaken you to a reality that perhaps you’ve never noticed. Unless you’re more observant than I am, which is by no means out of the realm of possibility.

I’m here to talk about Christmas Spirit and the myths surrounding it.

If you’re like me, you’ve probably always assumed that Christmas Spirit was one of those things that crept into the air sometime in late November or early December. Rather like fog rolling in off the water, it slowly envelopes everyone. Or maybe more like catching a cold, I’ve believed there’s always plenty to go around and everyone gets infected sooner or later.

Then, after December 25 has been successfully celebrated or survived (depends on how you view the day—I love it, but I know of at least one former co-teacher who didn’t—not even sneaking into his classroom and putting up decorations helped!)the Christmas Spirit slowly dissipates like the cold morning air in the desert after the sun comes up, or maybe like your checking account over the holidays. And by February, all Christmas Spirit has more or less vanished.

But I’ve slowly become aware that’s not how it works.

Neither is Christmas Spirit something that you can attain by just trying hard enough. You simply aren’t able to force enough smiles or bake enough cookies or hang enough paper chains. You aren’t able to catch the Christmas Spirit simply by sacrificing your vocal cords and your sleep to sing carols, tossing an extra bill into the Salvation Army bucket, or wrapping another gift. Not even reading the Christmas Story straight from the book of Luke can do it for you.

Grand gestures of self-denial and self-sacrifice aren’t enough. You know the stories. You probably grew up with them like I did—Uncle Arthur’s depiction of the child who gives away their favorite toy to someone more destitute, Max Lucado’s illustration of the compassionate child in Jacob’s Gift, the school program based on the story of “The Night the Bells Rang” and the child who gave his all. Somehow, we start to believe that our aptitude for self-sacrifice, even if it is only done of duty, is an auspicious start.

Yet none of these heroic acts are enough to instill in my soul the true meaning of the season.

This isn’t to say that all the normal Christmas activities are unnecessary. In fact, in their proper context they are likely indicative of success. But these things alone cannot instill within one’s heart the warm glow of the Reason for the season.

The Christmas Spirit, much like cinnamon hard candy, doesn’t go from zero to amazing without some work. It takes the right ingredients, sure, but there’s a lot of work that goes into stirring that pot of sugary goo before it’s ready to cool and harden. There’s the risk of getting cinnamon burns when you make the mistake of hovering where you shouldn’t.

In exactly the same way, the joyful outpouring of seasonal cheer takes preparation and work. It’s not something that just shows up. We have to be aware, year-round, of the choices we make. We need to practice self-denial and compassion and true giving long before we reach the end of the year. We’ve got to take risks loving those who may not show us consideration back.

Only when we enter the holidays already entrenched in the beauty and light of the love of our Father will we be able to fully recognize and appreciate the depth of His blessing on our attempts to celebrate that birth in the stable. The Christmas Spirit is not something you get once a year—it’s something you live all year and are given a special blessing for each December.  

Now that I think of it, perhaps I should've written this in June. But of course, I wasn't thinking about Christmas in June. Which sort of highlights my point. 

Maybe I'm crazy, I'm certainly open to other opinions, but I've begun to believe that the Christmas Spirit we long for, the joy and peace and goodwill we sing of, are ours to have every Christmas, if we dedicate the rest of our year to living in the will of the Father. We don’t have to get to December 20 and question why that feeling hasn’t hit yet. We don’t need to stress about the perfect new dress or getting the Christmas letter written or even what games to plan for the school Christmas party, because while those things might be part of the way your exuberance for Christ shines out, they in themselves are not what makes up Christmas at all.

The tiny Baby in the manger didn’t come for one night. He came for a lifetime.

And so maybe Dr. Suess and Charles Dickens were more right than I ever realized before. Christmas can’t be bought in a store, but it must be kept all the year to finally find fulfillment in the true Spirit of Christmas each holiday season.

Wishing you many joyful moments from now until the 25^th!