Call Me Crazy

One of the saddest sights for me is to see a Christmas tree dismantled and sitting curbside for pick-up on the evening of Christmas day.   Call me crazy, but by 8 p.m. on the 25th I'm just not in the mood to box everything up and move on.

Fortunately, being Catholic affords me the perfect excuse to linger in the Christmas spirit.  Did you realize that the twelve days of Christmas technically begin ON Christmas day and extend to the Feast of the Epiphany?  Not only that, but we also celebrate the feast of the Holy Family (first Sunday after Christmas) and Mary Mother of God (January 1st).

So as secular society is boxing up everything remotely Christmas and starting 'new year diets' we still have reason to plug in the Christmas lights and celebrate!  How can we observe these special days?  A few suggestions come to mind:

First, Christmas-----a time for rejoicing, sharing, and inward reflection.  For those with families, it's a special time to gather.  For those that are alone, it's a time to reach out to others.  In any situation it's a time to reflect that our Lord humbled Himself to take a human form to save us.  What a gift!  This is a great time to share our blessings....spending time with loved ones, calling/visiting/writing the homebound, 'adopting' someone in need.  If you've been away from the Church, come in...the doors are open.  If you've been estranged from a loved one, consider giving them a call or sending them a card.  If you have nobody special to spend the holidays with, consider doing a good deed for someone else.  Focusing on others is a way of expressing perfect love.

Feast of the Holy Family----a time to learn from their example.  What can we as families do to mimic the Holy Family in our spiritual lives?  What does the example of Mary's acceptance of God's will and St. Joseph's unconditional love teach us?  What does Jesus's obedience teach us?  These are good virtues to ponder and copy in our everyday lives.

Mary Mother of God---This Solemnity occurs on January 1st and is a Holy Day of Obligation.  Sadly, our Churches are not packed full.....many are recovering from the New Year's eve celebrations the night before!   This is an opportune time to ask the Mother of God for guidance and strength in the new year ahead.  So much focus is put on New Year resolutions.  What better way to kick off the new year than to observe this holy day?

The Feast of Epiphany----the Wise Men day.   This is typically celebrated on January 6th and concludes the twelve days of Christmas.  This is another wonderful day for reflection.  The wise men arrived and paid homage to the baby.  How do we do the same?  They followed the light.  Do we?  After their visit, they went home by another route.  Do we change our lives after 'visiting' the Christ-child at Christmas? 

Of course the gifting of presents is a huge part of Christmas in secular society today.  Another way to observe this season as Catholics is to gift smaller gifts throughout the Christmas season.....perhaps on each of the 12 days of Christmas or on the Feast of Epiphany.  And of course....we should expand our 'shopping lists' to include 'spiritual gifting'.  What spiritual gifts can we give this season?  Perhaps the gifts of patience? time? love?

So on the evening of Christmas, resist the urge to follow your neighbor and get the tree to the curb.  Linger by the bulb-light, sipping eggnog, observe the nativity scene and rejoice!  Your Christmas is just starting!