Properly celebrating Advent can be tough in a society that typically starts Christmasing around Thanksgiving and promptly ceases merriment on December 26th. One thing that has always been particularly bothersome to me is the general lack of Advent music. I’ve got an Advent playlist I add to every year, but this year I wanted to do […]
Let’s Fall in Love with Christmas Again
It’s a common misconception that Christmas is only for children. But Christmas is for everybody. Children are just better at celebrating it. As adults, we can get so focused on the preparations and the subsequent return to normalcy that we forget to savor the very point of it all. We cook and clean and then […]
How to participate in gift-giving without participating in materialism
Materialism is an obvious problem in America and it is made more obvious during the holiday season. Many people blame Christmas, or at least Christmas gift-giving, for this materialism. But materialism can happen with or without gifts. Whether it be iPads or beach trips or going out to bars, we become materialistic when we are […]
When Christmas Goes Away
Every January I go through a mini depression as Christmas comes to an end. I try to make it fun and positive. I try to find things to divert my attention away from the lack-of-Christmas. This year we have a baby coming in eleven weeks so I have much of that practical preparation to look forward to. My […]
Christmas Eve, 70 Degrees, and Hail
Baby Jesus did you come like they say in all those songs and stories and books? Like a lamb? All quiet and unobtrusive? Little cries, little weak cries? Sleeping through the night from the start like a “good baby?” No struggle to fight out of those swaddling cloths? So subtle, you were, that the others never […]
No Santa? But What About the Magic?
I’ve written before about why we aren’t doing Santa in the traditional sense. We love and appreciate him and want to maintain his spirit through both his real Saint namesake and through his fairy tale, but we won’t be insisting that he delivers our children’s gifts on Christmas Day. I am a bit unique in the camp of […]
