The Reason for the Season

So, if you aren't aware of it... December 25th, was actually a Pagan holiday once upon a time.  It was a horrible "celebration" for the Roman pagans called Saturnalia.  This was a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17 & the 25.  During this week, the Roman courts were closed, and Roman law dictated that no one could be punished for damaging property or injuring people during the week long celebration.  Makes me think of the movie recently released in theaters called THE PURGE.  

In an attempt to convert masses of pagans into Christians, early Christian leaders "hijacked the holiday" and named the 25th, to be Jesus' birthday.  This allowed them to "change" the way this celebration took place.  It took a long time, but eventually the Christian population was able to CONVERT this from a pagan holiday into a mainstream worldwide holiday. Christmas trees were originally pagan traditions as well.  Pagans worshiped trees in the forest, and brought them into their homes and decorated them.  Once painted with a coat of Christianity... it become a Christmas tradition.  Even kissing under mistletoe is a "Christian veneer" twist on a Pagan tradition. The point of this little piece of knowledge, is that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, even though he wasn't born December 25th.
I am completely fine with celebrating Jesus in an attempt to keep anyone and everyone from participating and witnessing the horror that was the Pagan holiday of Saturnalia.  BUT... I think that a lot of people USE Christmas for a reason that feels pretty down right Pagan.
STICK WITH ME...
I am not Jewish, therefore I have never celebrated Hanukkah.  I wasn't given a Bat Mitzvah when I turned 13, and I do not fast on Yom Kippur.   Why would I celebrate holidays that are associated with a religion that I am not associated with??
I feel the same way about Christmas.  Christmas has become a stressful time when people put themselves into hundreds and thousands of dollars in debt to give people presents that will appease our greedy human nature.  Hard to come by toys, and exclusive electronics are sold out in stores all over the country.  Stocking are stuffed with junk that no one really needed, and already fortunate people who have more than enough, wake up to find a mountain of presents from a make believe man.
This is NOT the reason for the season.  We are supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ.  It feels as though Christmas has been hijacked from the Christian faith, just as we hijacked it from the Pagans.  People who I know as atheists, celebrate the same holiday as I do.  The tree is in their house, the presents are everywhere, and there is no Jesus.  I go to the store and following my checkout, I am wished "Happy Holidays", because wishing someone a "Merry Christmas" could be politically incorrect or socially inappropriate.  Things have changed so much since I was a little girl, and I hate to see this change continuing.

In our house, we have a few traditions that we adhere to in order to keep the celebration about Jesus, and the gift receiving an added bonus.

1)  Stockings might have small gifts in them, but NO FILLER will be added, because breakfast goodies are the focus of the stocking gifts.  I don't need sugar highs mixed in with the chaos of Christmas morning!

2)  Santa only brings 3 presents to each of our children.  We lay out a Santa Bag on Christmas Eve for each child, and Santa puts 3 presents inside.  If the gift doesn't fit in the bag, it didn't come from Santa.  The story says that the Wise Men brought 3 gifts to Jesus, and I like the way this helps me tie Jesus back into the gift giving situation.  I didn't even take the kids to see Santa this year.  I am hating that I don't have a cute picture of my kids sitting on his lap to frame, but I also don't care!  I will take a bunch of pictures on Christmas Day. And this only encourages the idea of something that we are lying about anyway.

3)  Reading the Christmas story on Christmas Eve will ALWAYS happen.  The tradition in my house growing up was new pajamas and a family evening on the couch watching a movie.  Since my husband owns a restaurant, we don't get a family evening.  I also love the kids to wear their Christmas pajamas all month, so our "elf" brings them early in December.  We read the story of Jesus' birth, and we play with the nativity scene.  We will bake cookies tomorrow, so that we have a fun "birthday" treat to celebrate with too.  He is the reason we celebrate, and this is where our focus will stay.

5)  Family time is vital.  We travel on Thanksgiving, but we refuse to travel on Christmas.  This was a rule that my husband and I established when Abbie was born.  We decided that it was important to have our children at home and for us to spend time together.  It also makes it much easier for us to do the traditions we love.  We make sure that we are able to host any family that wants to visit.

4)  Helping those in need is very important to us.  We always participate in Operation Christmas Child, and this year we will be hosting a couple of Marines who will not be able to go home for Christmas!  It is our responsibility to share the love of Christ with those who need it most.

Traditions are different for all families, and I don't think less of anyone because they don't adhere to the one's that we have!  It is hard for our family to do tons of Christmas, because our children have birthdays in January, and in February.  We realized that we could "spoil" our kids when we celebrate their own birthday, and we can make Christmas presents minimal & keep the focus on what matters most.
My kids still get gifts on Christmas morning, and you can call me a hypocrite if that makes you feel better.  I am a bit of a contradiction, but I do enjoy seeing my children's excitement on Christmas morning.  The magic of Christmas is such a sweet experience for parents of small children & I wouldn't want to miss that!
I hope that each person who reads this blog, has a wonderful and merry Christmas.  Enjoy the time with your families, friends, and loved ones.  Make your New Years Resolutions to pay off December's credit card bill, and have a wonderful 2015!!!