The Spirit of Christmas

Christmas is just weeks away. Neighbors have put up their outside lights, placed giant snow globes in their front yards, or braved slip-n-slide rooftops to plant Santa & his sleigh symbolically near the chimney.

 Our house has no lights, no globes, and no Santa. In fact, we haven’t even purchased a tree yet. Christmas spirit is ebbing very low in the Brink household this year. With only fifteen days left to shop, we may need shock therapy to get in the proper mood.

 Our offspring are no longer children, but young adults. They don’t ask for dolls, or train sets anymore. They want things that cost a year’s wages or the equivalent to what most people had invested in stocks before the crash.

 It’s no fun to shop for adults. Their eyes don’t light up with suspense as they unwrap a red foil-covered box. Instead they’re probably thinking how best to return the object, and if it was purchased at full price or sale.

 Christmas spirit is what made my brother search our house from head to toe anytime my parents were away, not leaving a drawer unopened, a closet unransacked, or even a mattress unturned in his quest to find presents and peek inside them. And even after he knew what they were, he still had that crazed excitement plastered on his face Christmas morning when he opened them once again.

 But that sort of spirit is a feeling, a temporary high that gets lost along the way as packages are unwrapped and discarded, food consumed, and families depart to separate homes.

 The true Spirit of Christmas usually comes in simple ways. At the first dusting of snow, when everything is glazed in sparkling white, it begins to grow. When we hear carolers making rounds from door to door singing Joy to the World, it lifts our spirits higher. When we read the Christmas Story and picture the manger scene where Christ was born, we’re enveloped in the spirit of Christmas. We have true joy in knowing God’s Son. It doesn’t dissolve like melting snow. The Spirit abides within us.

 So, whether or not I purchase a tree, put up lights, or buy an outrageously tacky snow globe for my front yard, I’m filled with the Spirit of Christmas.