Christmas is now in full swing. Stores were advertising their Christmas wares before Halloween, and the Thanksgiving season was somewhat buried under the avalanche of commercials for the Advent gift-giving season.
But this year’s celebration will be almost as truncated as was Thanksgiving has been for many Americans. With the persistence of the COVID-19 virus, governors and mayors are imposing some almost draconian restrictions on how the Christmas celebrations can take place. With New Year’s coming, we wonder if Times Square will have any revelers in place on December 31!
Here is a novel suggestion, especially for households with children in them. Usually Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are the traditional times for gift exchanges in many homes. I propose a three-day celebration in lieu of being able to gather with extended families for the festivities.
Start with Christmas Eve. A church service would be the way to begin, celebrating Jesus’ birth with other Christians. If masks are required and social distancing mandated, so be it. We can transcend this with a worship to start our 2020 Christmas. Since most churches have these scheduled early in the evening of December 24th, then the nuclear family, which is all that seems to be allowed for this year, will go home and have their evening meal.
One-third of gifts (children will love this, as it gives them something to look forward for in the rest of the celebration) will be given, but only after the reading of the two preliminary passages which predated Jesus’ birth; these are the announcements of that occasion to Mary, in Luke 1, and the angel’s appearance to Joseph in Matthew 1. All go to bed, eagerly anticipating Day 2 of this special time.
Christmas morning will also be special. Gifts will be under the tree, waiting for the eager hands to rip off the wrapping to reveal the treasures therein. But — before this happens, the account of Jesus’ birth in Luke 2 would be read. The travel to Bethlehem, the angels heralding the birth of Jesus and the shepherds who witnessed this miracle — all would remind those who would receive this day’s gifts of the best gift of all, Jesus. A second third of the gifts would be opened on this day.
Christmas Day would also be the time when you, as a family confined to your own home, reach out to those who might have come to visit you without the restrictions placed on the country. This can be done so easily in these days of instant communication, by phone, text, messages FaceTime or Skype. Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and even friends can share your joys on this special day.
Day 3 will be December 26, the day after Christmas. In England and nations spawned by emigration from there (Australia, Canada, New Zealand) this is called Boxing Day. This has nothing to do with prize fighting, but with one of the signal characteristics of every Christian; the giving of gifts to the less fortunate. Two different explanations of how this came about are both equally probable. In English literature, Charles Dickens mentioned this day in his work, The Pickwick Papers, but it had been written about at least four years earlier. The day after Christmas, those of the English upper class would give boxes of gifts to their servants, as a bonus for a good year’s service. This might consist of some trinket or leftovers from their manor houses’ celebration of the previous day, but it was welcomed by those who received them.
Another possible source for this day’s name came from the churches in medieval times. During Advent season, a box was available for parishioners in which to place money, and the day after Christmas, the parish priest or clergyman would take the cash and distribute such to those in the community who were poor or destitute.
Whichever account you prefer, it is the perfect segue into the reason for Christians to give to those who are less fortunate. Two passages would need to be read for this day: Luke’s account of the visit of the Wise Men, found in Luke 2, and Jesus’ allusion to alms giving in the Sermon on the Mount, in the first verses of Matthew 6. For all, young and old alike, a reminder of what we can do for others in our charity is most apt in the Christmas season. After this is done, the final third of the gifts can be distributed, and the rest of the day could be spent in reminding one and all of the great blessings God has bestowed on His children.
Something like this will not replace completely the loss of gathering with those we love for Christmas, but it might give a welcome respite from the rampant commercialism that seems to have engulfed our nation and world. Although it has become almost a cliché, the phrase “Jesus is the reason for the season” is most appropriate, and perhaps this 2020 different holiday season will become one of our most treasured memories or perhaps, a new tradition.