This post is influenced by the recent Seminary Dropout episode with Aaron Neiquist, That Sounds Fun podcast episode with Jessica Turner and this revelvant magazine article.
I wrote a blog post in 2016 about Christmas Traditions (click here to read that post)
However this year I was at a Christmas breakfast and was asked what our Christmas traditions were and I struggled to think of one (there is a reason I blog... helps with remembering things lol)
I knew that this year would be different. I have never gone to Disney at Christmas time and leaving the state for 8 days in December plus two travel days takes a chunk out of the month and I knew that was going to mean that some of our traditions were going to have to take a pause this year. I mean I would love Disney World at Christmas time to be a tradition (and my father who while we were growing up set a Disney every 5 years timeline is already talking about when we can go back to Disney at Christmas time... but that wont be next year), there are other things we exchanged to make that happen. We didn't go to Great Wolf Lodge this year in December with friends. We put our tree up early this year so we would get more time with it. None of those are bad things... just changes.
Last night we watched to movie Elf because the kids were at each others throats... I mean Jilli has had a fever that has been coming and going since Friday (it was gone all day Saturday and then when we got to the airport it came back and we have been battling it since) and Lydia and I have yucky noses so we are all over tired and crabby and I am stressed about getting everything ready for Christmas (we are hosting multiple Christmas celebrations at our house in the next week and we are still not unpacked yet...) but I decided we had to do something calm last night or I was going to loose my mind...
Brent loves the movie Elf... Jillian is indifferent about it... Lydia only likes when Buddy is a baby... and I could take it or leave it...
Its not that I dislike the movie... but its no Rudolf or the Grinch...
I woke up at 3am this morning to give Jilli another neb and could not fall back to sleep... my mind was going and my tummy was hungry... I stretched it out a bit at Disney with all the yummy food lol...
So as long as I was awake I started cleaning and to keep my mind from wandering itself into a spiral of grump about cleaning at 4am I decided it would be wise to listen to a couple of Podcasts.
The world is all up in arms about what songs and movies should people be watching this time of year... I say watch what you want to watch and listen to what you want...
However...
In the past I completely would have been on the side of people saying that people need to get a grip and leave Christmas things alone... they are traditions after all... who cares about silly songs and movies if they make you happy...
but as I thought about it more this year I couldn't take that side either...
Because my issue is that people often take that side without ever even listening to the points the other side is making.
I have thought Baby Its Cold Outside is a weird song since I was a kid and the only thing I like about it is the vocals... so I listen to it (mainly the Elf version ironically).
But what this year has taught me is to listen to people... hear what their concerns are... because I want the same thing for me.
This all comes back to being a mom of kiddos with special needs and how I use to think language did not matter... in fact in college I didn't really understand why my professors were such a pain about people first language in our assignments. I thought they were just being politically correct and being dramatic... I did it because I was told too... but that is a poor heart posture...
Now I get people first language in a whole different way. And I feel in my bones a different way about listening to the people that something is effecting... if someone is a part of a group and that group is coming together to say there is a problem we have to start listening to them first even if it sounds crazy to us or like people are making a big deal out of nothing because these are people we are talking about.
I am not saying that every time someone gets upset about something we need to change the way our society operates (I am still likely going to say some of the phrases on the PETA naughty list), but if we started from a posture of listening life would be a lot better.
But that brings me back to Christmas traditions...
Some of them for us this year just can not happen due to time...
So that made me start to think about what traditions really matter...
And what am I saying (or saying by actions) to my kids when we do those traditions... this year when time is tight it says even more what we choose to make a priority...
I grew up going to Christmas eve service and ending the service singing Silent Night while holding a lit candle (I as a child always thought that was AMAZING!). We stopped using candles during the service a long time ago but Silent Night has always been a Christmas tradition...
A few years back I was listening to sermon and a minister pointed out that the song Silent Night is kind of ironic... What part of that night do you think was Silent? The town was full. There was also tons of animals around town... animals are not quiet.
My mind was blown by this revelation (I know...) and I was really bothered that this person would break the glass about such a beautiful song that was so ingrained in my life... it was not Christmas until Silent Night was sung.
At first I tried to ignore what the person said...
Then for a few years I was mad the person said it even if I knew it was true...
Then I didn't want to hear Silent Night because I thought it was a sham...
Then this year I decided to learn the history of Silent Night and what I found was a beautiful story.
The night Jesus was born was not silent, the Bible never states that (go read that Relevant article to have your mind blown about more things the Bible doesn't say about Christmas), but I am able to appreciate the song now for what it is.
It came down off the pedestal of a place it did not need to be... it can be Christmas without singing it...
Its also not a sham of a song...
But what I did look for was how the song could point me back to Jesus...
So this year we have done some soul searching for what Christmas traditions are important to us... not because we always do them but because of why we do them.
Our kids have a board book called "What is Christmas" that I have fallen in love with this year (seriously if you know a kid but them this book) because it talks about how many different Christmas traditions are nice...
But this season is really about Jesus.
We can have traditions that are nice... but what are the ones of true value and meaning?
Are we willing to loosen our hand on the...
good
we have always done it this way
its pretty
its fun
I grew up with it...
In search of the richness and beauty of the depth of Christmas.
Are we ready yet to look at our traditions and do some soul searching and put things in the categories that they have always belonged...
Or are we going to continue to worship Christmas songs, movies, and traditions instead of the King that was born on Christmas?
Trust me I didn't go into this looking to throw out all of my traditions... actually there has been pain the last few years as I really look at a lot of things in my life and ask why... I am a traditions girl at heart who likes things to be like they have always been... and there are some beautiful traditions that should be protected... but what I have been learning is to dig into them and learn the why because when you come out the other side you either have a deeper love and respect for the tradition or it becomes a lot easier to let go or downsize. And what I have found is there is so much beauty in truly cherishing the deep things instead of settling for the comfortable and have tos.
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