Christmas is a season and not just a day!

One of the things we Catholics need to recover and appropriate properly is the fact that Christmas is a season and not just a celebration that lasts for a day. Christmas runs from Christmas Day to the Baptism of the Lord. This year then it runs from Thursday, December 25 to Sunday, January 11, 2026. Eighteen days. It is an extensive celebration which seems excessive that many cannot afford. Who throws a birthday party for weeks? It is expensive. 

Part of the problem is the culture, secular culture with its mercantilist trappings. Right after Thanksgiving, the Christmas mood was activated. The decorations, the carols and all the elaborate preparations, materially albeit hype up to the climax on December 25. There is an anticipatory rush to get to it. And once there, we want it to be over with. It looks like an adrenaline or dopamine rush which gets you high and then in a flash one is back to reality. 

As a matter of fact, the problem is more deeply a fundamental lack of understanding of what Christmas truly means. It is fundamentally about the Son of God becoming the son of man so that sons and daughters might become God’s children. The extravagance of the incarnation as it were cannot be celebrated in just a day. The Church stretches it for a whole season. There is the Octave - the eight days of Christmas from December 25 - January 1. Liturgically, over these eight consecutive days, the Church sings the Gloria - that beautiful hymn of praise and worship whose opening lines echo the words of the shepherds. Throughout Advent, the Church omitted this hymn and now to highlight the significance of the season, the Gloria will ring out during every mass now for eight consecutive days. We must pay attention during these eight days of Christmas. Five very important celebrations take place during this period namely, the feast of St Stephen, the first martyr on Dec 26, the feast of St. John, the beloved Apostle and evangelist (Dec.27), the Holy Innocents - the infants killed by Herod in an attempt to eliminate Christ (Dec. 28) which this year cedes its place to the Holy Family which is normally the first Sunday after Christmas and culminates with the Solemnity of Our Lady, Mother of God. Beyond these eight days, the Church invites us to celebrate the Epiphany which is the second Sunday after Christmas and wrap it up with the Baptism of our Lord which is the third Sunday after Christmas. Where are you rushing to? It is still Christmas. Keep the decorations and especially the tree. 

There are many things one could ponder about this season. It could be great practice to seek to learn at least one new thing about Christmas every year. There is the great temptation for it to remain perfunctory and merely a cyclical returning like the clock that ticks away mechanically. What is the Christmas message for you this year? It is so rich in meaning that one could really never exhaust its meaning and significance. Two things that bring home the Christmas message for me are the colors and the Christmas tree. 

Have you wondered, like me, what color Christmas is? There is a cultural confusion here. Liturgically, it is clear, white is the color for Christmas. It is for purity. Pay attention to the vestments work by the priest. It carries significant meaning. Yet, red has become a dominant Christmas color. Santa Claus is always dressed in red. Red symbolizes blood and hence love. Valentine's Day parties often have red as dress code. In fact, the day after Christmas, the priest wears red vestments to celebrate the martyrdom of Stephen. Furthermore, there is green which ensues probably from the tree. So white, red and green are Christmas colors. Somehow, I fell in love with blue which is more of a Marian color. What color(s) brings home the Christmas message to you and why?

Lastly, did you get a Christmas tree? Why or why not? It is big business during Christmas. But beyond its aesthetical functions, the Christmas tree brings home a fundamental message of the Christmas season. It's never just bare but often green and then with the beautiful lights and gifts under it. The tree, the lights and the gifts. The tree takes us to Genesis in the Garden of Eden which man lost. Paradise lost and hence when we gear that beautiful Gospel from the Prologue of John’s Gospel proclaimed on Christmas day, it sums up these images. Paradise lost after creation is restored with the incarnation which points inherently to the crucifixion and Resurrection. It is on the Cross made from a tree that Christ is going to be crucified. Christmas draws from and points to Easter in a real backwards and forwards looking way simultaneously. And as St John said, “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn 1:4). Jesus is the light. This reminds me of the Easter candle blessed on Holy Saturday night with the words Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. Christmas is a celebration of lights just as Easter is properly understood. The gifts exchanged or received and/or given during this season draw fundamentally from the gift of God who gives His only begotten Son to us. The incarnation - the Word that became flesh is a gift of the Father and the Son in and through the Holy Spirit. Christmas is a divine gift. In a way then the Christmas tree captures the Christmas message of love, light, life and gift. The tree evokes the image of Christ the vine who says I am the Vine and you are the branches (Jn 15:5). 

Keep that Christmas tree up! Merry Christmas.