Boxing Up Christmas
Last week Michelle and I headed to the Y for our
morning routine workouts on the day after Christmas. On the drive over the Christian music station
that had been playing all kinds of Christmas music since December 1st,
had already reverted their format back to contemporary Christian music. All the angels and sleigh bells had been suddenly
and noticeably silenced.
After my workout, as I was waiting for Michelle to
emerge from the locker room, I watched as a couple of the Y employees began
pulling down the Christmas decorations in the lobby. By the next morning all that was still
standing was the large Christmas tree, although even some of its decorations
were obviously missing; the tree had a number of noticeable empty spaces. When we next returned this past Monday, even
the tree was gone without a trace. They
don’t seem to have any concept that Christmas is more than a single day; it is
a season.
As I write this it’s now late into the evening of
January 5th. In the living
room, our Christmas tree and the lights across the fireplace mantle are glowing
reds, yellows, greens and blues; the reading lights are turned down low or off. The wise men finally made it near the stable
and are appropriately kneeling before the little plaster Jesus lying in the
manger They are there because we
celebrated Epiphany this past weekend at Mass, although the more traditional
date is tomorrow.
And that’s why all the Christmas decorations are still
up in our house. Christmas should be
enjoyed to the brim. I admit that the
tree is drying out and we’ll probably take that down on the 7th. The bulbs will be taken off one by one and get
matched up again with their spot in the appropriate box. We’ll take our time; some of those bulbs have
been us since our beginning of celebrating Christmas together 45 years ago. The lighted angel that was the first to
appear on the tree so she could begin to proclaim the good news, will be the
last thing removed. I will pull the tree
to the grape arbor near the bird feeders and stand it up there. The birds that frequent the feeders will
enjoy the extra protection.
It’s likely that most of the decorations around the
house will be boxed up and returned to the shelves in the basement by day’s end. The nativity set though will remain until we
celebrate the Baptism of the Lord, which is the official end of the Christmas
season. It’s good to have this most
important reminder of what the true blessing of that first Christmas was for
the entire liturgical season. I find it more
than a bit ironic that the world which admitted, even pleaded for weeks in song
of its need for a little Christmas, seems so quick to pack it up and put it
away.
And I will also admit that when we diehards finally
take all of our decorations down that the house will seem a bit empty. Maybe that’s not all that surprising, because
Christmas is rightly so large that it fills houses and churches and city streetlights
and hearts. We’ll buffer our own
emptiness a bit because some of what gets put up with Christmas is really
winter-related, especially various snowmen, from stuffed ones to snow globe
ones. Those will stay out until at least
early March. A favorite of mine is a
little statue of children dancing around a snowman who seems to be enjoying the
joy they are all beaming with. In a
small but important way there is a Christmas lesson there in that jolly snowman,
that it is important to remember the joy long after you have boxed up Christmas. The joy that the angels sang of is for all
hearts of all seasons. Don’t box up the
joy.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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