A New View of Christmas

Spending time away from home and family in a place where Christmas is definitely not the big deal it is at home has given me a new view of Christmas.  I remember Christmas when I was young and it wasn't as big a deal then either.  The tree did not go up before the second week in December unless you were shameless.  The tree had to be perfect.  The presents were many fewer.  The excitement was just as big!  It doesn't seem that Christ was the center of Christmas then or here in New Zealand either.  So what is the difference.  Well, I have been giving it a lot of thought and apparently my perspective on it has changed greatly.

This year doesn't seem like Christmas at all.  It is hot (or at the very least warm outside).  We are having BBQ fare for lunch.  Lots of homes don't have trees.  Many people go to the beach.  I had difficulty finding a Nativity set that was what I wanted.  You know, something to remind me of New Zealand's love of Christ.  I ended up making my own from a Paua shell and plastic clay.  I started contrasting that to home in my mind and suddenly my mind had a whole new take on Christmas in America.  This was especially true after we asked each of the guests at our house on Christmas Eve what Christmas was like in Samoa, Tonga, Tasmania and as Kiwis.

Here are my thoughts today, one of the first to see Christmas day.  It is true that America has very much commercialized Christmas and some of it isn't for the better.  There are too many toys, too much sugar, too much very loud music and may I say, way too much cinnamon assaulting our noses especially in little boutique stores.  It always makes me sneeze!  That being said, I am finding that the contrasts have only served to highten my joy in the true meaning of Christmas.  The decorations in profusion bring satisfaction to my soul and remind me of the simplicity of the Saviors birthplace of the light when he was born.  There were great lights in the heavens.  The star was there and the angels must have shown ever so brightly.   The gifts, often way too many and far too expensive remind me that the Savior received only three gifts that were recorded and they were given long after his birth.  They were though, the best that could be given and offered in total loving humility to a child by three grown men. 

The joy on the faces of adults and children must have been the same.  It is the joy on our children's faces as they see the lights or open their gifts that for a fleeting moment evokes the same joy on the faces of Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and wise men as they knelt at the feet of the Christ child.  I accutely feel this "lack of presence" right now.  Not the lack of my Saviors love but the lack of ability to share it with my family, those I hold most dear, even though I am sharing it with many here that I love as well.  It is kind of like the feelings I had after my mom died, wanting to tell her something important then realizing I couldn't because she was no longer here with me.  It is a slightly unsettled feeling that I don't care for much.  I do feel my Saviors love but it seems to have been greatly magnified in my mind when I saw my children "walking uprightly before the Lord" and knew I got to observe it more closely.  I watched our annual family video with much more awareness, emotion and pride this year.  I longed to hold each parent and child as I watched.  They are my world, my "work and my glory".  None of this means anything without each of them in their place.

I have never felt the sanctity of the Saviors birth more profoundly than when looking on the stark white simplicity of the nativity sitting in the center of the temple reflecting pond surrounded by the brilliance of thousands upon thousands of gleaming colored lights or Santa kneeling by the Savior's manger in my favorite Christmas image.  I watched 'Joy To The World' so many times this year.  Each time I longed to be at temple square looking at the lights and the temple.  Making the trek up the ramp to see the Christus was always a highlight.  I usually observe these surrounded by my loved ones.  I have never felt so much alone yet so much aware on a Christmas day as I am feeling this Christmas day.  I hope this feeling never goes away.  I hope I understand this very feeling more each year.  I look forward to many more years of observing these contrasts with my beautiful family.  I guess it really is all in your point of view!