The Christ in my Christmas

Every year around this time there's all this talk about putting the Christ back in Christmas. People are mortally offended by the term Happy Holidays. Fox news is upset about stores that refer to Holiday Sales, governors that have Holiday Trees. People are posting on Facebook about putting Christ back in Christmas. And then they turn around and send out cards with Santa on them.

Let's be frank here. Christians hijacked a pagan holiday and turned it into a religious holiday. Why are we so surprised that the pagans are taking it back? Relax. But still... I understand. I want Christmas in my home to be about the birth of Christ, too. That's what we choose to focus on.

What I'd like to say to all those Christians fighting the War on Christmas... START IN YOUR OWN HEARTS. In your own homes.

Start simple. Attend church every week. Replace your cute Santa cards with cards proclaiming peace and joy and the coming of the Prince of Peace. Cut back on presents to family and friends, and up your giving to charities.

Read the gospel stories of the birth of Jesus. Marvel at how Jesus came into this world in humble surroundings. Realize that the angels announced His birth to dirty, smelly shepherds, not the leaders of the temple. Understand that foreign sages came to find Him because He came to be the savior to ALL people. Mourn over the death of the innocents who were killed as Herod tried to eliminate any threat to his power. Know that God came to earth in the midst of our suffering and pain, and proclaimed peace and joy even still.

Step it up a notch. Honor Advent, a time to prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ. Not just Christ as a cute baby, but the return of Christ. We are told to watch and wait. How do we watch and wait? How should we be prepared? We wait not by sitting and watching the sky or guessing when the end of the world will come or looking for signs of impending doom. We wait actively, living the life that Jesus told us to live. Loving one another. Feeding the hungry. Caring for the sick. Forgiving each other. Visiting the imprisoned. Sharing the good news of peace and love. Advent is a time to step back and take stock. We were given an amazing gift in Jesus, God incarnate. The best way to respond to that gift of love is to behave the way he told us to behave. What do you need to do, not just at Christmas but all the time, to be prepared?

You want to keep Christ in Christmas? Then kick Santa to the curb. Sure, Santa has some religious history. But St. Nicholas didn't give gifts to his children who already have over stuffed toy chests. He didn't give obligatory gifts to his sister in law and his son's teacher and the well to do neighbors. He secretly gave gifts to people in his community who needed HELP. His giving was not compulsory. It was from the heart. It was following the commands of Jesus. He didn't keep track, he didn't expect a gift in return. Imagine if parents took all that energy they put into keeping up the farce of Santa Claus and put it into teaching their children to love the way Jesus loved. How different our world would be with that one small change.

We do a lot in our house to try to keep the Christ in our Christmas. The May Queen has known from the start that Santa is fiction. Every night we light the Advent wreath and read from a book that tells the story of Christ's birth. Instead of giving gifts to our parents we give to a family in need in their honor. I've cut back on compulsory gift giving. The cards I send share the Christmas message of joy, peace and love that Christ brings.

But we still give gifts to each other. We give gifts to our daughter, who certainly doesn't need a thing. I feel guilty about not baking more, and stress about shopping and decorating and holiday parties and all the trappings that come with Christmas. We live in this world, in this time, and we get caught up in the Christmas that we are told we should have: a Christmas with presents under the tree and holiday goodies and gatherings and lights hanging from our eaves.

It's not up to stores or our government or Fox news to put the Christ back in Christmas. It's up to me. It's up to you. And putting the Christ back in Christmas has nothing to do with whether you say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, and everything to do with honoring why Christ was born. Christ came because God so LOVED the world. Put the Christ back into Christmas by LOVING the world. Do what you can to shine His light in your corner of the world this holiday season, not by fighting a war but by loving everyone. Even those who don't celebrate the holidays the way you think they should.


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Jim Wallis of Sojourners has written a great article on the war on Christmas:
The Real War on Christmas... by Fox News

Stretching my free dollars...

I'm feeling kind of Grinch-ish as we head into this Christmas season, and I'm working -though not particularly successfully- on getting past that (it's not so much about the holiday, and more just general Grinch-i-ness, which is part of why I'm not blogging. You don't want to read my whiny naval gazing, and I don't want to write it).

BUT... I did get to go shopping with some FREE money the other day from the fine folks at Blogher and Home Goods... you can read about it on my review blog, Painted Maypole Reviews. And enter for a chance to win some FREE money (er... gift card... you know...) of your own.

Santa Baby: Redux

Buh-bum.. buh-bum...
Santa baby, just slip a new couch under the tree, for me
Been an awful good girl
Santa baby so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa baby, a new convertible too, light blue,
Make sure the A/C works, please
Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

Think of when I'd clean not nap
Think of all the@ssholes that I didn't slap
If my list you can complete
I'll sit on your ample lap


Santa baby, I want some smokin' hot abs, no flab
Erase my many stretch marks
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa honey, one little thing I really need, the lead
In that new musical
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Santa cutie, and fill my stocking with a million, or three,
A big girl needs security
Santa cutie, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Send me off to sea on a luxury ship
Put me on a plane for a European trip
Treat me good and I'll treat you bad
Santa, bad boy, I'll get out my whip

Santa baby, fulfill a small dream of mine, more time
8 hours a day would be fine
Santa baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight

Hurry down the chimney tonight
Hurry, tonight.

This post has been a Monday Mission. This week's mission is to write a post in the style of of a Holiday Tune. Write your own ditty and put a link in the widget below. Late entries are accepted, but beware, the Monday Mission Mistress DOES brandish a whip.

Join us next week when your mission is to write a post in the style of a Bumper Sticker and/or Vanity Plate.

Unusual gifts

 
I'm currently in Michigan, helping to take care of my in-laws.  My mother in law is home from the hospital, and moving slowly but doing well.
 
Before I left home it seemed the list of things to do was endless.  I barely slept for 3 nights straight trying to get everything done.  I will return to a messy house and lots more to do.
 
But in the meantime, I'm getting a lot of reading done.  I got all my Christmas cards done this evening, something I didn't have time to sit down and do while I was at home.  I have to take things my slowly, at my in-laws' pace.  And while there are things to do here, certainly, they all get done more slowly. And with lots of breaks in between.
 
I miss being home with The May Queen as Christmas draws near.  I miss baking cookies and making crafts.  I'm missing Christmas parties and going to the live nativity.
 
But I was here for a 54th wedding anniversary. I got to set up another Christmas tree.  And I'm catching up on sleep.
 
This has not been the December I envisioned for many reasons, this unexpected trip being one of them.  Yet there are still gifts to be found.
 
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Don't forget to join us for Monday's Mission:  write post in the style of a Holiday Tune (inspired by Jeri's 12 Days of Christmas spin-off)

Christmas Gift Shopping List

For MIL
Health

For SIL
Patience
Support
New Friends in a New Place

For MQ
Gratitude
Obedience
Joy
Faith

For Hubby
Peace of Mind
Confidence
Security

For Friend E
Patience
A New Job (With a big pay raise! and great benefits! and a good working environment!)
Time to enjoy her new baby

For Friend R
Her house to sell
A New Start

For Friend S
A healthy pregnancy

For Chrissy
A miraculous and clean bill of health

For Niobe and Creative Type Dad and Chantal and Furrow
Healthy babies

For ME
Time to relax and enjoy family
A clean house (and garage. and attic. and yard)
Hard drive data recovery (at least the pictures!!)

Do you think I can buy these things at the mall?

This post has been a Monday Mission. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a post in the style of a shopping list. Join the Mission Impossible team by adding a link to your post in the widget below.



Join us next week, when our mission will be to write a post in the style of A Holiday Tune (inspired by Jeri's 12 Days of Christmas spin-off).

Could I have a change of luck, please?

So I wrote that book (OK, I wrote that table of contents) on how to have a stress-filled life, but really, I don't need to do any of that. Because stress just happens to me.

The cat is sick and has peed on the couch and the chair. I was told this is impossible to clean, but I'm trying to do it anyways, because that's a lot of money to just throw away (we did throw away the mattress, it's a sleeper sofa...)

My Mother in Law is currently in the hospital after her second stroke. Today she is having a pacemaker put in. My husband may need to go and stay with her and my father in law for a good chunk of January. While I'm in tech week.

Our desktop's hard drive died, and we have to get a new one. We have likely lost all of our documents. And photos. LOTS AND LOTS of photos.

Our furnace wasn't working. I tried to light the pilot light myself, but that wasn't the problem. So I paid someone to come out and fix it.

We've bought/will be buying all new tires for 2 cars.

Other life changing stressful things I can't write about online.

And did you know that Christmas is in 16 days?

Christmas Errata

The May Queen and I have safely arrived in Michigan, and are currently ensconced at the in-laws. Visions of building a snow fort are surely dancing through MQ's dreams, so you know what we'll be doing in the morning. The May Queen is continuing to earn her inherited title of "The Director" (which she took over when my grandmother died over 4 years ago... yes, we knew even then...) by declaring things like "We will each open two presents, and then Mommy will make scrambled eggs while I play with my newly opened toys, and then we will open the rest of the presents." Which is pretty much how it went down. The Big Guy and I got a kick out of opening all the presents she got for us... things of "hers" that she wrapped for us... many of which were ours to begin with (like the Detriot Lions stuffed animal she stole from her daddy years ago). She did take into account our tastes, though. She gave me several shark story books. Even though I didn't win over at Magpies, The Big Guy got me a Wii fit! Or will get me one... as soon as the stores restock. He also is having an apron made for me... I expressed that I wanted one that went over the shoulders and not my neck (that always bothers me) and couldn't find one... and it turns out that a woman at our church makes aprons. How cool is that? So I am pleased as punch with my soon to be arriving gifts. After opening presents I packed us up, and we nearly didn't make it to the airport due to INSANE traffic caused by a wee bit of fog and overacting bridge officials, but we made it, and The May Queen has already scaled the snowy mountains a few times, at 10:30 at night, and who can blame, her really? What an adventure for a little southern girl.

Welcome, Jesus

One of the things about Christmastime that I love is hearing the Christmas songs on the radio. I find it astonishing to hear the old hymns and such great theology, linking the reason we celebrate Christ's birth to his earthly death, on the radio. Nonstop. (OK, in between "Baby It's Cold Outside" and the ever manipulative "Christmas Shoes")

But tonight a song, much newer, was sung during worship, and I think it just says it all for me (particularly the last bit... gets me every time) ...

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking
How we need to hear from God
You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger
How I wish we would have known
But long-awaited Holy Stranger
Make Yourself at home
Please make Yourself at home
Bring Your peace into our violence
Bid our hungry souls be filled
Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world
Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorn
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Unto us is born
Unto us is born
So wrap our injured flesh around You
Breathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God
Welcome to our world

Welcome to our World, by Chris Rice

Merry, Merry Christmas to all of you.

A letter to the man in red

Dear Santa,

There is no THING that I need this Christmas, and only a few THINGS I might put on a wish list: pants that reach my ankles, an apron, maybe a Wii fit. I'm sure your busy elves could make them, or head to mall and find them there, if that's easier.

But what I'd really like for Christmas, besides the always elusive world peace and 4 extra hours in a day, aren't things you can make in your workshop or buy at the big box stores. They aren't easily wrapped in shiny paper and topped with a bow. I'd like JOY this Christmas. I'd like GRACE this Christmas. I could go for an extra large serving of CONTENTMENT. And how about some LOVE and HOPE, while you're at it. Some FAITH would be nice, too.

I wish, Santa, that you could find a way to give those things to all the people you visit Christmas Eve. That you would slide down their chimney, eat the cookies on the plate, and leave in their place a heaping lot of joy, grace, contentment, love, hope and faith.

But now that I think about it, Santa, it seems to me that the very first Christmas those WERE the gifts that were given. To all of us through all the ages. That those gifts have already been given. But they are lost under the pile of THINGS... and not just the new things in shiny packages under the Christmas tree in December, but the things that fill our lives all year round. The things we use to push away these gifts. To ignore these gifts. To fill the hole that the lack of these gifts has left in our lives.

And so we write letters to you and tell you what we wish for. We long to believe in something so good, so steadfast and so generous as you Santa.

No offense, Santa, but you're a poor replacement for the original star of this show we call Christmas.

As I write this I'm starting to wonder how I might give these things to others for Christmas. I'm not sure I can wrap them up and hand them to them with a smile and a "Merry Christmas," but I'm pretty sure that I know some people who could use some love. And some grace. I definitely know some people who need hope. It won't be easy to hand it to them. It will take a little longer. It will take time and relationship and probably quite a lot of commitment on my part. It will cost more than I'm used to spending, and not necessarily in dollars. It won't end on December 25th. But it will be a gift that keeps on giving.

And Santa? For me? I think that maybe writing this letter was your gift to me. Thanks for the reminder.

I wish you joy, grace, contentment, love, hope and faith. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Painted Maypole
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This post is a Monday Mission. This week's Mission is to write a post in the style of a letter to Santa. Have fun! If you play along, post a link in the widget below:



*No Mission next week! See you in 2009 with a new slate of Missions.

Holiday Tips

Because I know you look to me for all things domestic.

done laughing yet?

OK... my FAVORITE tip is this: take pictures of all your holiday decorations, and then when you pack them up at the end of the season pack them by room, and tuck a print out of your pictures in the box. Then, next year, if you have a little bit of time you can grab a "living room" box and decorate quickly, and you don't have to stop and think "where did I put this angel?" This makes it so much easier than my old way of putting it ALL out on the dining room table and trying to decide where it went, and then putting it all back on the dining room table and packing it up randomly.

Stock up on sales - both pre and post holiday. I found Webkinz at buy one get one free, and let me tell you, every child who's birthday party we attend next year will be receiving a Webkinz (and around these parts, Webkinz are Bday gold!). No more running around for a present. ALSO... not only do I buy all my cards and Christmas wrapping paper at 70% off or more in post holiday sales - but I buy plain paper that works year round - I have red, purple, green, silver and gold that I bought dirt cheap because they were on holiday clearance, but can be used for any event. Hooray, me.

Little kids do not mind used presents. If it's not in a box it just makes it easier to play with immediately. Stock up at garage sales and the like year round. My attic always has a box or two of presents for later that I picked up for a buck. Frugal AND earth friendly.

Do your parents really want one more thing to dust? Probably not. Do something nice in their name (help out a family who needs food and presents, give to a charity, volunteer your time for a cause they appreciate) and write them a nice letter telling them what you did for them and why. Our parents LOVE this. We tuck the letter in with a small ornament, and each year as they decorate the tree they reread all the letters.

Christmas cards: I love getting Christmas cards from friends, but just a plain card signed with your name gets little response. I actually enjoy the cheesy "this is what we did this year" letters, the pictures, and any hand written note is fantastic. No matter how much you slaved over picking the perfect card, it's just a folded piece of glittery cardstock until you make it personal.
ALSO: if you scrapbook those cards make great embellishments for your pages.

And finally, cheesecake Hershey Kisses are only available during the holidays. Buy them now. Trust me. mmmm.....

Visions of tree chopping dance in my head

Today the Maypole clan headed north to brave the wilds and find the perfect vegetation to hold our holiday lights and treasured ornaments.

We climbed into ye olde minivan and drove about a mile before pulling into the lot of the depot of the home. We glanced over the rows of bundled trees. We spied a tree that appeared to be appx 8 feet in height. Bravely, the orange clad woman assisting us cut the string and shook the tree so that it's branches would fall down and behold, it was a perfect specimen, with nary a bald spot to be seen. The May Queen and I exchanged a high five and thus the deal was sealed (well, that and a swipe of the credit card).

After tying our treasure to the roof (and a brief stop at the store to pick up a last minute present for a birthday party tomorrow) we returned to our domicile and placed the enormous tree in a stand in our living room. It nearly touches the ceiling. It is straight as can be and clearly the best tree we've purchased perhaps ever. All done within about 10 minutes at the Home Depot.

hail the conquering heros

I have dreams (delusions?) of going to one of those lovely farms where you wander through the fields, pick your tree, and then cut it down. And maybe some day it will happen. But when I'm lucky to have one night free all month (ah... theatre...) and those farms are only open on the weekend? I'm thankful for being able to buy a tree from a parking lot! And thankful that this year we found one we all agreed on almost instantly (last year it took us hours and several lots).

Whew.

We're letting it relax a bit and will decorate it on Saturday. I love getting out all the old ornaments and remembering who gave them to us or when they were made. It was a great tradition in my house growing up, with Christmas carols on the stereo. It's one of my favorite Christmas "tasks."

I just hope it won't lose all of its needles within the week. Which seems possible, as the rest of it has gone far too well.

gratuitous elf shot