no, humbug!

But it doesn't feel like Christmas-time yet!

All of my usual markers are missing this year. There was no Thanksgiving break and travel to indicate the end of November and the fall. I have no pending exams. We're not prepping feverishly for winter concerts, or Madrigal dinners. I'm not singing Christmas music, or playing it. And it's not cold. We aren't in the midst of the several-weeks-pre-Christmas deluge; and it isn't even close to snowing. I haven't been wearing gloves! The sun is still shining warmly.

Bah, humbug!

Why is Scrooge in my head? Why am I chafing at the cheerful Christmas songs - about snow, gifts, and love - playing in the lobby? (But enjoy the music from the Nutcracker?) Why do stories of shopping rushes and stresses make me sick? Why do I find some part deep in me rejecting all these things?

But maybe that's ok. Not ok that I become Scrooge, or live in some disgruntled land, but ok that I'm bothered by a consumer-focused attitude. Maybe what I need is some other thing to think about, to make Christmas about. Maybe what I need is some other reason to celebrate December besides that one day.

A friend of mine has been writing about Advent here (http://sittinthereoncapitolhil.blogspot.com/), and it's gotten me thinking: why don't I spend the next few weeks pondering the mystery of Incarnation? Why not prepare myself for celebrating God with us?

Because I don't know how, whispers a voice.

But I don't need to know how, I reply. I just need to do it. I need to remember, every day, about the wonderful mystery of the Word made flesh. I need to remember that Christmas is about receiving the greatest gift.

Celebration is not dependent on weather, songs, exams, or location. It is dependent on the attitude of my heart. If this Christmas is truly to be a time of glory and rejoicing, I must set my heart down, let it be vulnerable, and choose to dance away the heaviness. "If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think on these things!"

Celebrate... my car is all fixed up, new battery and all.
Celebrate... the weather is warm and lovely.
Celebrate... there are many amazing and gracious here with whom I get to share life.
Celebrate... for connections with people from past places and seasons.
Celebrate... there is a baby grand piano I may play.
Celebrate... I am going home for Christmas.

It is hard to explain how much this last point means to me. It's such a great big wonderful thing that I can't spend much time thinking about it, lest I burst with impatience and joy and expectation and .... all kinds of other things. I am going home. If for no other reason, I should be able to rejoice every day because of this one simple fact: I am going home.

That is enough.

No more grumbling about shallow lyrics, or crazy shoppers. No more finding reasons to say it isn't Christmas-time yet. Because it is always Christmas; it is always Immanuel, God with us. This is just the time of the year when we make a great celebration about it.

It is always Christmas, and I am going home.

Now I don't mind the Christmas music so much.