Where Did the Real Christmas Go?

As I look about me and see the frenzy that surrounds the Christmas season, 2008, I want to climb up on my soapbox in the middle of it all and scream at the top of my lungs, "Where did the real Christmas go?"

Not that my crying out would change anything. The roar of the crowds as they push and shove to make sure they are first in line for whatever it is they are buying would drown me out no matter how loud I cried.

I read recently that the average American would probably spend $750 on Christmas this year, and that although fewer were putting their purchases on credit cards, many still insisted that credit was their only way of financing Christmas. That was $750 per person, not per family. I am stunned.

An online news item said that hard up Brits are also worried about Christmas, and many plan to take out low-rate personal loans to finance the 600 pounds each person is expected to spend.

Everywhere you look, advice abounds on how to get into the Christmas Spirit. We are told to pamper ourselves, to play upbeat Christmas music, to dress in bright cheery colors, to get a new hair-do, to bake cookies, and to watch Christmas movies.

Friends tell us that they have overspent on presents; that they are worn-out putting up decorations and preparing things for their big family dinner on Christmas day; that they love Christmas because of the free booze at the office Christmas party; or that their kids can't keep their mind on their studies, because they are so excited about what their gifts are going to be.

At church, I see lonely widows, too proud to admit they will be alone on Christmas, and families too wrapped up in planning their own celebration to notice.

I see neighbors too busy writing Christmas cards and mailing gifts to sit down for a cup of coffee, or even to stop and chat for a moment or two.

I see rude people in the stores cutting into lines ahead of other tired people, and over-worked clerks struggling to keep a smile on their faces as they try to keep up with customers and a horde of crying, bickering children.

Is this what Christmas has come to mean? If so, I think, sadly, that we have entirely missed the point.

Christmas is for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, who came to seek and save those who were, and are, lost. This same Jesus, was given by God as a free gift to mankind. Never, in the history of the world, has such a wonderful gift ever been given before, and never, in the history of the world, will such a precious gift ever be given again.

How then, did we become a people who mostly ignore the best gift of all to engage in the frenzy of the Christmas season that I mentioned earlier?

Maybe our society has already reached the point of no return, but, if you call yourself a Christian, why not make this particular Christmas the day that your family decides to start rejecting the mockery it has become, and once again embrace the truth of what Christmas is all about?