Analog-Theater 2.0

In the past few posts I’ve been revealing the origins of some of our most cherished Christmas traditions and beliefs to show their true meaning. And while the holiday has its roots in at least two different pagan festivals with further twisting by modern retail businesses, there is something that people have been trying to add to the holiday off and on for the last 1600 years and that is what I want to talk about today. The spirit of Christmas.

Even though he wasn’t born in the winter, we take this day out of the year to remember the greatest gift ever, when God gave us the gift of His son, Jesus Christ. In fact, this is one of the two days a year that millions of people in the world go to church (the other day being Easter).

While we cannot match the magnificence of that gift, we give of ourselves; gifts to our friends and family, secret Santa gifts at work, and donations to poor and needy.

I think Frank Cross in the 1988 movie Scrooged said it best. “It’s Christmas Eve. It’s-it’s the one night of the year when we all act a little nicer, we-we-we smile a little easier, we-w-w-we-we-we cheer a little more. For a couple of hours out of the whole year we are the people that we always hoped we would be.”
This one day, this 25^th of December, has gone from being a pagan holiday, to a Christian holiday, to a day of excessive partying, to a day of excessive crime, to a day of excessive consumerism. What type of day will it be next? That is something that we will determine as we decide individually what this day means to each of us. Is it little more than the busiest shopping time of the year or a day celebration with our friends and family?

Having been living on my own and working the last few Christmas Day’s, it has lost some of it’s meaning. However, I always find some time to read the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke 2 and watch some old Christmas Classics (Miracle on 34^th Street and Peanut’s Christmas) to remind myself of what this day is about. It’s should be a day of peace and good will to men.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

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