Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh.  The song starts playing before the first of December and will be heard from the radio, from store intercoms and almost every other place you go.  Christmas carols signal the beginning of the Christmas season.  We listen to endless renditions of the songs we have heard since we were kids until we yell, “stop, have mercy, please stop”

And at almost the same moment, crowds form outside the stores.  Like horses stationed at the starting mark, these shoppers waiting for the “they are off” moment.  The door opens and the mass of people push past the employees to search for the perfect deal.  Dollars fly out of billfolds to pay for the latest toy rage or for electronics identified as a really good deal.

The Bell Ringers stand near the stores.   The pleasant sounds of their bells draw attention to the donation pots.  People drop coins even dollars occasionally.  The news anchors go nuts with stories of the special gifts deposited in those pots.  They report on gold coins or diamond rings left by someone unknown in a bell ringers pot.

Days pass by and we work our way through our ToDo Lists of presents bought, parties attended, foods cooked and house decorated.  We tell ourselves we will keep Christ in Christmas.  We tell ourselves we know the reason for the season, but sheer business almost overwhelms us.  The chaos steals our joy if we are not careful.

This season of Advent, lets take a few minutes a day to look at Jesus’ birth, to recall where the sights, sounds and smells of Christmas came from.  Society tells us that this season is a pagan holiday and Christians usurped the holiday.  The reality is that this Holiday and many of the traditions are purely Christian.  They developed based on Christian lives and their attempts to live as Jesus would have them live.  The Christians of old show us how to keep the season and how to live our lives for Christ.

For the next 25 days, I intend to research and discuss the source of our Christmas celebrations from Santa Clause, Christmas trees and presents to Christmas Cards and yes those ever playing Christmas Carols.

Please Join me in seeing what our Christmas traditions have to tell us about our Christ and living as a Christian.