For the Love of Christmas

I love Christmas!  For me, the sounds, sights and smells all come together in just the right way to fill my senses with the best that defines a religious and holiday experience.  Mind you, the commercialization drives me nuts like most people.  I hate Black Friday.  I get frustrated with all the advertising on TV and radio.  Burl Ives was a great guy….but did he ever sing anything anyone remembers beyond “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”?  And why did he look like a snowman anyway? 

Each year my lovely wife madly decorates our home and I tease her that it looks like Martha Stewart threw up on the inside of our house.  But I love it!  All the lights, the trees, the stockings, garland and a hundred little knick knacks sitting around do put a smile on my face.  Coming home after a long day at work, I enter to the sound of Kenny G playing a soulful Christmas tune while the angel atop the tree glows with ever-changing colors of light and the house is filled with the aroma of freshly baked cookies wafting through the air. 

Everyone has family traditions during the holidays, and our family is no different.  At some point, we always watch “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”.  Granted, it’s not the most “family friendly” movie on the shelf, but the irreverence is just what makes it such a hysterical joy.  I can identify every family member on both sides of the family aisle who are portrayed in that film.  And who doesn’t have a “Cousin Eddie” in the family anyway?  Poor Clark Griswold tries ever so hard to have one of those good old fashioned fun-filled Christmas’ surround by ‘normal’ family and friends…in spite of Eddie.  And I can identify with some of the poor guy’s failures to achieve the perfect Christmas celebration while battling the obnoxious snotty neighbors who already have the perfect little life.

Growing up, our tree had big hot light bulbs that melted the long strings of icicles that we hung on the REAL tree that always seemed to get a little bit brittle over time.  I’m sure we violated at least 23 fire codes with those decorations and dry tree….but luckily we survived.   

We always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve…a tradition we have continued with our own family.  I’m not really sure why other than we were just too anxious to wait.  We always had a nice Christmas dinner and the kitchen HAD to be cleaned up before opening presents.  I was always confused as to why we couldn’t “get on with it” with a dirty kitchen…but I digress. 

Daddy always sat in the big recliner while we listened to him read from the Bible about the birth of Christ.  Even though I was anxious, I always tried real hard to listen to the story and understand that Christmas was about the Savior of the world….not Santa and the next great toy.  I remember how proud I was the first time that Daddy let ME be the one to read the Christmas story.  We always prayed at the end and thanked God for our blessings in life before gingerly opening gifts being careful not to rip the paper and saving the bows.  (Hey…Santa was on a tight budget, OK?)

During a military deployment to the Middle East several years ago, I was lucky enough to spend Christmas living in a tent with nine other guys in the middle of the desert.  For the benefit of those who haven’t had such joy, let’s just say that I never felt so alone in my whole life.

My wife worked hard to send me packages and photos and things that kept me in touch with the family while I was away. In particular, I had a small Christmas tree about 12-inches tall with little battery operated multi-colored lights that I thought was pretty cool. It made for a great little night light and I loved lying in my cot just looking at the lights and thinking of my girls back home.  It made me smile.  She sent me a bunch of care packages too, including several Christmas gifts which I placed around the tree; ready to open when the big day arrived. 

And so in keeping with our family’s Christmas tradition, on Christmas Eve I sat on my cot trying rather unsuccessfully to not feel too sorry for myself while I opened my Bible and read the Christmas story once again. Then I bowed my head and thanked the Lord for the good things in my life and asked Him to protect my family who was pressing on without me back home.  Opening my eyes, I looked at my little tree with its twinkling lights and watched….as it slowly dimmed….and the lights went completely dark.  My last battery had died.  Staring into the darkness I said to myself, “Well….that pretty much sums it up right there, doesn’t it?”  So I promptly crawled into my cot and cried myself to sleep.

As sad (and true) as that story is, there are people all around the world who never get to experience the joys of Christmas and don’t have the luxury of family and friends during the holidays.  As Americans, we have soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen that will be alone for Christmas again this year and families separated by thousands of miles from those they love the most.  Some will spend their last Christmas on earth in the last place on earth they want to be.  I consider myself to be one of the fortunate ones. 

As you work to keep those restless kids from wetting themselves with anticipation of opening gifts…be sure to say a prayer for those who are alone this year whether at home or abroad.  I pray that their batteries will be fresh and take them into the new year with new hope for a better day and that God will grant them the joy of being with family and friends once again very very soon.

Remember…Jesus is the Reason for the Season!

Papa Chief