When I was a little kid, I remember being able to turn on the TV weeks before Christmas, and there was always a Christmas movie on. It was fun! As a child, it really helped to put me in the “Christmas Spirit.” This year, I was excited that for the first time in years, we had cable and we could watch all the oldies but goodies like I did as a child. It’s a Wonderful Life. A Christmas Story. Charlie Brown’s Christmas. Imagine my surprise when I couldn’t find any on the 800ish channels we have! When I searched for Christmas movies I found they were all…On Demand. Is that what Christmas has really turned into? Sadly, yes. It’s all about the money and instant gratification.
Jimmy Kimmel asked parents to give their children a bad gift, tape it and then post it on Youtube for the world to see. It was sad to see these children break down, cry and throw fits because their parents got them “bad gifts.” Apparently if you were on Twitter, you would have seen a whole bunch of people complaining about their gifts too. Sadly, that’s what this Christmas season has been reduced to. Why should I be surprised? We live in a nation where we want and want and want and have confused NEED with WANT. We demand to be given everything we want and don’t care what it costs others to give it to us. We demand it.
Well I refuse to have a Christmas On Demand and I am refusing to raise my children to have On Demand Christmases too! This year I was feeling convicted about letting my children believe in Santa instead of the REAL reason for Christmas. It’s not like I wasn’t teaching them that. In fact, thanks to my sweet friend, Marcie, we were memorizing the Christmas story. However, my kiddos would talk nonstop about what they wanted from Santa and not the excitement of Jesus’s birthday. I almost threw Santa under the bus a few weeks before Christmas because I had enough. However, seeing how devastated Gwynn was when she discovered that her claps weren’t magically turning on the Christmas lights, but rather a remote was, I couldn’t do it to her. This point was really driven home Christmas morning in service when Connor was too excited to come home and open presents that he couldn’t sit still.
This year we told the kiddos the real story of St. Nicholas; who he was and what he is believed to have done. How he was just a kind and generous man who helped those in need. I am going to continue to drive that point home. This next year I am going to make Christmas all about Jesus. Our advent calendar is going to be Crimsons. We are going to give Jesus a gift. He is going to be the center of our Christmas. I am going to try to emphasize giving rather than receiving…which I know may be a stretch for my kiddos, but you can’t grow without stretching. I should say that my kiddos really aren't extremely selfish. They were excited to give gifts to children in Nigeria who don't have any and were very thankful for what they received. I guess it was more me...realizing that I really need to make an effort to keep the Reason for the Season alive and refuse to have a Christmas on Demand.
No comments:
Post a Comment