As I was growing up .... the Christmas Season started the day after Thanksgiving with tree purchasing and/or decorating. This included pulling out the Christmas music and fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la, la-ing.
Well, I'm used to the stores putting out Christmas stuff before Halloween - but I wasn't quite ready for that little nagging voice in the back of my head singing Christmas songs. I've been whistling 'Frosty the Snowman', 'It Came Upon a Midnight Clear' and the Chipmunk's 'Christmas Song' all through the past week. I finaly gave in and listened to Citi on a Hill's: "It's Christmas Time" in the car on Thursday evening and this morning as well.
Today though, as Christmas seems to come earlier and earlier, I'm wondering if it's a good thing. Certainly a bit of Christmas cheer is beneficial for all - or is it? Are we diluting the sacred by spreading it out over 4 months? We are to keep the "God with us" all through the year - but do we limit ourselves (and Him) by making it all about the Nativity and Country Styled Snow-People?
Each of the last few years I've been more and more OK with leaving some of our decorations in the box. Don't get me wrong, I still want a tree and Christmas carols in the house; but I'm not so sure that setting up more than one fake evergreen will make the Holiday any more joyus. I'll still try to find that perfect place for our ever-sprawling Colonial Christmas Village, but do we really need 52 Santa figurines?
On the City On A Hill album I mentioned above there's a really neat song about Mary and Joseph's inner turmoil over parenting the Messiah called 'Bethlehem Town'. It's a good song ... but they put a throw-away line about the wise men in the chorus and specifically time their gifts to that night in Bethlehem. Grrrrrrrr. I'm ok with 'the world' getting bits of the story wrong (or wholy misinterpreting it ala Touched by an Angel). That's only understandable since they are presenting a view of archtypes - not the real people that will have real struggles raising a real child.
The Jars of Clay song loses so much by playing lose with the facts (presumebly for a good rhyme) in the midst of an otherwise true portraly of the miracle of incarnation. Maybe that's my concern with this rush for Christmas - that we've somehow spread it so thin that it's no longer important to get the details right .... no longer special and reverent ... no longer a 'mass' for the Coming of the Christ Child.
" .... please Christmas don't be late" - or early.
7 comments:
Good points. I can't believe you have started listening to Christmas music already. It is getting cooler weather though.
"Citi on a Hill"? Is that a Freudian slip? :)
I can't stand the merging of the holidays from October through December. It's not Christmas season until December starts. I don't want to be bombarded with carols and decorations until then.
Nope ... just my fingers getting way too used to typing it that way.
I also find myself trying to type "Bank" and ending up with "BANC" - our internal portfolio code for the "CitiBank" credit card products.
You know, I bet the Jar's guys know the real order of events. I don't mind one bit that they went with the convential christmas story rather than the historically correct one. What does it matter in the long run? The focus is on Christ. I don't cringe every time I see a manger, so I also don't gripe over the songs.
I haven't started listening to christmas music yet, but I did check out a bunch of christmas cd's from the library to download. There is a better selection now than if you wait till nov/dec.
Roamer and I try to buy one new christmas CD a year. Last year it was a "Flamenco Christmas..." But it sounded more like Ricky Ricardo shoutin in abarn - although there was one really old song that sang about the shepherds. It sounded like real shepherds singing on the scratchy record and that was pretty cool...
One guy we work with started the Christmas music already. Way too early for me. After Thanksgiving is okay. They don't do Halloween here or Thanksgiving, so no merging going on. Last year Christmas went from a few days before the 25th until Jan. 7th. A Different rythem all together.
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