Merry Christmas

There are so many fantastic sermons out there about why Jesus had to come to Earth.  They’re about how a Savior is born, how Mary had a rebellious attitude, but still a servant’s heart, and so many other great studies. I don’t feel lead to share anything on that subject matter, but rather about Christmas being happy, peaceful, and filled with joy for everyone.  

For years, Christmas and every other holiday meant slaving away in the kitchen for me. I switched back and forth from Chef Christi to Christi’s Cookie Factory. Every holiday, especially Christmas, I was unhappy and sporting angry eyebrows. My shoes felt like bricks, and my body was filled with aches, pains, and stiffness from long hours of cooking, baking, and cleaning in the kitchen. Other people say Christmas for them means stressful credit card debt and bills they can’t pay. For example, if Uncle Mike didn’t buy Aunt Mary her precious Cherished Teddies that she requested, it will be miserable days ahead for everyone until someone gifts it to her. We all know this isn’t why we celebrate Christmas or any other holiday, yet we do it because of expectations we label as “tradition” and bowing to the demands of selfish people so that we don’t get labeled as “being a Scrooge.”  Or even worse, we force ourselves to wear a phony, happy face so that we have “the Christmas Spirit.” Uh… What spirit? That’s what is on my heart to share, and to encourage everyone to take a moment to think about how your family celebrates Christmas. Are there some changes your family may benefit from making? Is there an unhappy kitchen slave in your family? Has the purpose of Christmas become about gifts, the perfect day, the perfect meal, or a grand social media presentation to the people in your family?  

You might be saying to yourself, “But it’s tradition, that’s the problem!” Jesus came to break us free from religions traditions. We don’t have to be bound by family traditions, especially if everyone isn’t happy! One of the Christmas Eve traditions in my family was to eat fish. It’s an Italian tradition that Americans have turned into The Feast of Seven Fishes. The fish cannot be overcooked, or it will be rubbery!! It’s miserable for the people who are cooking to make multiple fishes finish at the exact same time. If you do some deep tracing back on this tradition, you might find that it has roots in Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, Babylonians, and other infamously defeated Biblical tribes that were wiped from the Earth. I made some changes because my shoes weren’t going to feel like bricks ever again over Dagon. The tradition change happened very easily with my closest friend who is Cajun. We have been spending Christmas Eves together, so we started making blackened shrimp pasta with creamy Cajun sauce. We brought our family traditions together in a beautiful way. Now it feels more like a celebration of God’s love that brought our families together as opposed to saying, “We always eat this.” Changing, melding, or updating traditions isn’t necessarily something to shun. 

Christmas doesn’t have to be about gifts, either. One year, a well to do family announced they were NOT giving gifts that year and were NOT receiving gifts. They asked everyone amongst their family and friends to please not buy anything, expect anything, or to feel bad. They went on to explain that the purpose behind the request was to celebrate Jesus that year because their family had been too focused on gifts. When some of their family members protested, the parents explained that the tweenaged kids would be having birthdays next year and will be receiving gifts. Regardless of whether you have money to spend on gifts or not, it’s not bad to skip gifts one year. Instead of dreading waking up with no gifts, plan to make a lasting memory with your family doing activities to bring you closer together. That brings me to our Christmas Cake… 

A friend of mine was angry with his unsaved family for making everything about gifts, “It was who got what! Who bought what! Who has what!” he said. Out of his frustration, he grabbed a cake mix in the pantry and made a cake for Jesus to remind his family that Christmas wasn’t about them. I thought that was a wonderful idea and have since incorporated it into our Christmas festivities. I like to do white and red mixes, communion colors, to remind us why Jesus came to Earth.  

Thank you for spending some of your Christmas time here at my blog. I truly hope everyone in your family has a blessed Christmas that’s focused on why we gather together as a family to celebrate.  

 Christi