It's too late this year. (Part 6)

Happy Boxing Day!

So, in my quest to share my take on the great holiday debate, I've covered the lazy people (that's me!), and the Merry Christmas people. I'm not going to bother with the mean-spirited, anti-Christmas people. They may exist, but if they do, I don't really want to give them airspace on my blog. I think Charles Dickens already did a nice job of covering them, anyway.

And as for the "What's all the fuss about?" crowd, well, I used to be one of them. Then my Merry Christmas friends enlightened me, thus prompting my move to the lazy group. I am supremely happy there.

So, now let's get to the other December holidays. Since it starts today, I'll just mention Kwanzaa. Happy Kwanzaa! If I were to take the view that Kwanzaa started out as an anti-Jesus holiday, well, I'd also have to take the view that Christmas did, too. I think the celebration of Kwanzaa is fantastic, and if I were ever invited to take part, I would do. So there ya go.

Then there's Advent. Oh, look I jumped back to Christian holidays again! I don't belong to a high church, so I don't do the community Advent activities (hanging of the greens and so on). And I think that's a big reason why I know so many people who are bent on "putting Jesus back in Christmas". If we just celebrated Advent like the rest of Christendom, we could probably rest happily in the knowledge that we were celebrating Jesus throughout December.

Anyway, I also think Advent is great. I did the readings this year, but not the candles; maybe for 2010 we will get a candle and a wreath and Chad & I will do Advent together. Perhaps we'll even invite our friends to join in.

And finally, Hanukkah. There are a lot of Jewish holidays that I think Christians should pay more attention to, and this is one of them. I don't intend to ever celebrate Hanukkah exactly as Jews do, nor do I think I should; that borders on disrespect, to my way of thinking. However, it does stand as a celebration of God saving his people again from those who would destroy them. And in an era when many Christians worry that the world would gladly be rid of us (and some of them would!), it is comforting to look to the Festival of Lights and recall that particular time the the Lord rescued his people. I neglected to buy a Menorah before Hanukkah began this year, and of course it is now much too late. But this is a tradition I would like to give to my children.

Between lighting candles for Advent and lighting candles for Hanukkah, I can see a lot of fire in my future. Happy Holidays, once again.