Getting lazy about Christmas
I'm looking at Christmas in a really different light this year.
It started with the Christmas tree the other day. I put it up but it was like a chore to do it. I dunno.... it hasn't felt like Christmas time and maybe it's just the holiday blues. Maybe it's a lot of stuff going on, which will work itself out in time. Maybe, just maybe, though, I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
Part of the fun about Christmas for me as a kid was decorating the tree. And then decorating Grandma's tree. It was always fun for me to unwrap the ornaments, and carefully hang them on the tree. We had a Santa Claus light bulb and these big frosty GE light bulbs that came in their own yellow corrugated boxes. It was always cool to screw that Santa bulb into the light socket and see him light up year after year. Decorating the tree was a big deal. Decorating grandma's tree was always fun, too. My grandma saved the candy canes in the original Ike's box. When we were kids, there was none of this red and white candy cane business. Candy canes were from Ike's and they were green, red, and white. They came in big boxes from Grand Central.
Kencraft still makes them but I have long since quit driving to Utah county to buy candy canes. I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
Then there was the sad part on New Year's Day, when, dead or not, the tree was taken down. We usually had trees that were fresh cut and they weren't anywhere near dead when New Year's Day rolled around, but that's the day the tree came down. The ornaments were wrapped back up into newspaper and then carefully put back in the boxes. They quit making the frosted bulbs and one by one, they burned out. Santa finally gave up the ghost and he too became just another Christmas memory. Life happened and our fresh Christmas trees slowly gave way to a very nice fake tree my mom bought from Montgomery Ward's through their catalog.
Fast forward to today. You have pre-lit trees nowadays. I know several people who don't even bother un-decorating or disassembling their artificial trees. It goes into a bag and then in the basement, where, after Thanksgiving next year, it'll come out of the bag and viola'.... instant Christmas.
You're missing out. One of the best family stories ever was the year we cut Christmas trees, got lost in the forest...ran out of gas, twice! while driving a Jeep Cherokee with expired plates. The highway patrolman who helped me with gas the second time was kind enough to not give me a ticket. I was married to my first wife when that happened and my mom was along for the ride. We ran out of gas about a mile out of Duchesne the first time and about a mile out of Heber City the second time, and by then it was snowing. When we got to the top of Parley's Canyon, they'd closed I-15 and we sat in the truck for another hour or so waiting for the road to be plowed.
We weren't lazy about Christmas that year.....that was commitment! And the tree still came down on New Year's Day.
Christmas isn't supposed to be instant. It's supposed to be about the little things, like unwrapping ornaments and figuring out where you're going to put them this year. If you leave everything the same, what's the point? I mean that... the whole point of Christmas is celebrating the birth of the One who changed absolutely EVERYTHING!
I'm about tradition, too. I told Miss June today that we needed to go to Park City this week and then I remembered there was no reason to go to Park City this year. Maybe she has one, but I don't. It's tough to get out of habits sometimes.
We will have prime rib for dinner at Christmas. It's kind of become our thing. I'd really like to do a crown roast of pork, but my mom doesn't eat pork anymore and I like the prime rib thing. Another thing we do is celebrate Christmas dinner with English "crackers"...and not the kind you eat.
I will so make you wear the paper crown if you show up for dinner. If you're coming, I need to know so I can make sure I have enough "crackers" for everyone. There is always plenty of food.
I haven't done neighbor gifts in two years. I will make up for that this year. I just haven't felt very Christmassy for some reason. I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
But not about Christ!
I'm all kinds of not lazy for Him. Which is gonna make me not lazy about Christmas anymore, either. I'm not gonna be lazy about telling people why we celebrate Christmas. I'm gonna speak out about it. I want to remember WHY we're celebrating. It's not about us. It's not about the swag. It's about the Son of Man who came to redeem lost sinners like me. Brother, was I ever lost!
How about you? Busy? TOO busy? Tired of the (fill in the blank) or are you like me and getting just a bit lazy and complacent about the whole thing?
It started with the Christmas tree the other day. I put it up but it was like a chore to do it. I dunno.... it hasn't felt like Christmas time and maybe it's just the holiday blues. Maybe it's a lot of stuff going on, which will work itself out in time. Maybe, just maybe, though, I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
Part of the fun about Christmas for me as a kid was decorating the tree. And then decorating Grandma's tree. It was always fun for me to unwrap the ornaments, and carefully hang them on the tree. We had a Santa Claus light bulb and these big frosty GE light bulbs that came in their own yellow corrugated boxes. It was always cool to screw that Santa bulb into the light socket and see him light up year after year. Decorating the tree was a big deal. Decorating grandma's tree was always fun, too. My grandma saved the candy canes in the original Ike's box. When we were kids, there was none of this red and white candy cane business. Candy canes were from Ike's and they were green, red, and white. They came in big boxes from Grand Central.
Kencraft still makes them but I have long since quit driving to Utah county to buy candy canes. I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
Then there was the sad part on New Year's Day, when, dead or not, the tree was taken down. We usually had trees that were fresh cut and they weren't anywhere near dead when New Year's Day rolled around, but that's the day the tree came down. The ornaments were wrapped back up into newspaper and then carefully put back in the boxes. They quit making the frosted bulbs and one by one, they burned out. Santa finally gave up the ghost and he too became just another Christmas memory. Life happened and our fresh Christmas trees slowly gave way to a very nice fake tree my mom bought from Montgomery Ward's through their catalog.
Fast forward to today. You have pre-lit trees nowadays. I know several people who don't even bother un-decorating or disassembling their artificial trees. It goes into a bag and then in the basement, where, after Thanksgiving next year, it'll come out of the bag and viola'.... instant Christmas.
You're missing out. One of the best family stories ever was the year we cut Christmas trees, got lost in the forest...ran out of gas, twice! while driving a Jeep Cherokee with expired plates. The highway patrolman who helped me with gas the second time was kind enough to not give me a ticket. I was married to my first wife when that happened and my mom was along for the ride. We ran out of gas about a mile out of Duchesne the first time and about a mile out of Heber City the second time, and by then it was snowing. When we got to the top of Parley's Canyon, they'd closed I-15 and we sat in the truck for another hour or so waiting for the road to be plowed.
We weren't lazy about Christmas that year.....that was commitment! And the tree still came down on New Year's Day.
Christmas isn't supposed to be instant. It's supposed to be about the little things, like unwrapping ornaments and figuring out where you're going to put them this year. If you leave everything the same, what's the point? I mean that... the whole point of Christmas is celebrating the birth of the One who changed absolutely EVERYTHING!
I'm about tradition, too. I told Miss June today that we needed to go to Park City this week and then I remembered there was no reason to go to Park City this year. Maybe she has one, but I don't. It's tough to get out of habits sometimes.
We will have prime rib for dinner at Christmas. It's kind of become our thing. I'd really like to do a crown roast of pork, but my mom doesn't eat pork anymore and I like the prime rib thing. Another thing we do is celebrate Christmas dinner with English "crackers"...and not the kind you eat.
I will so make you wear the paper crown if you show up for dinner. If you're coming, I need to know so I can make sure I have enough "crackers" for everyone. There is always plenty of food.
I haven't done neighbor gifts in two years. I will make up for that this year. I just haven't felt very Christmassy for some reason. I'm getting lazy about Christmas.
But not about Christ!
I'm all kinds of not lazy for Him. Which is gonna make me not lazy about Christmas anymore, either. I'm not gonna be lazy about telling people why we celebrate Christmas. I'm gonna speak out about it. I want to remember WHY we're celebrating. It's not about us. It's not about the swag. It's about the Son of Man who came to redeem lost sinners like me. Brother, was I ever lost!
How about you? Busy? TOO busy? Tired of the (fill in the blank) or are you like me and getting just a bit lazy and complacent about the whole thing?
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