I grew up in the Philippines, where Christmas music hits the radio airwaves as soon as the first “ber” month comes. Yes, as early as September, the preparation for Christmas begins.
Christmas is undoubtedly the most anticipated time of the year in the Philippines. And in a country that is over 80 percent Catholic, just about everyone starts to get into the preparation, the decoration, and the jubilation of the season. And so when I moved to the United States, I felt a little short-changed because now I usually have to wait until after Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas or listening to Christmas music.
But if some retail companies are starting Black Friday sales way before Thanksgiving, and if big box stores are displaying Christmas decor on the sales floor even as early as September, then why not indulge a little and get into the Christmas spirit earlier as well. The year 2020 has dealt us quite a deck of cards so why not welcome its end early and start to deck the halls with boughs of holly?
Never Too Early for Joy
Even before the pandemic and the lockdown, we’ve known about mental health benefits when we get into the holiday spirit early. We’ve heard experts suggest that people who put up Christmas decorations earlier appear to be happier. Those early days give us an extended opportunity to re-live the joy of our childhood, to be silly and child-like, and to just express ourselves in delightful and colorful ways. For many adults, we get to share those happy experiences with our young children and let them experience the same child-like joy we experienced growing up.
By starting early, that period of excitement and joy gets extended. Plus, that short span of festive weeks from Thanksgiving to the Feast of Epiphany feels rushed and quick to climax, leaving us very little time to prepare for that crashing halt at the end of the season when we take the decorations down. By extending the period of jubilation, we may not have to feel like we’re binging on spreading Christmas cheers when we have more time to practice it.
Christmas, however, is a lot more than just the colorful decorations, the twinkling lights, or the scent of fir tree or peppermint. Yes, there are many traditional ways for the short-lived and external manifestations of our Christmas joy. The lights brighten our mood. The music lifts our spirits. The scents remind us of the season. There’s a bidirectional exchange where we draw spiritual energy from them and at the same time express the joy of our faith through them. We are, after all, preparing to celebrate and commemorate the birth of our Savior. What could be more joyous than that?
The exuberant anticipation of that joyous event even if it’s as early as the first ‘ber’ month might even help engage the senses and immerse ourselves in the experience of Christmas, thus helping nourish our faith. It also presents us with more Catechetical opportunities to teach our children about Advent. Perpetuating these Christmas traditions go hand-in-hand with perpetuating the faith.
Rediscover Inner Joy
However, in the commotions, in the scents, sights, and sounds of it all as we prepare the decorations, the food, and the Christmas songs, what often gets overlooked is our internal preparation. Christmas is a time of year that predisposes the senses to be overwhelmingly drawn outwards to the bright, twinkling lights and the charming rings of the bells. It is easy to get caught up in the externalities which could leave us reliant on them to be our main source of holiday merriment. All these stimuli can detract us from the interior spirituality of it all.
We tend to leave those inner spiritual reflections for Lent, but the season of Advent, despite its festive and vibrant external ambiance, also brings us yet another opportunity to revisit the interior life and reflect on what the birth of our Savior truly means. We can learn from what Saint Francis of Assisi did 800 years ago when he thought about how to celebrate Christmas and discover true joy. He reimagined the nativity scene and brought the story of our Savior’s birth to life for the faithful to understand in a deeper sense the reason for the season.
In contrast to the bright lights, the vibrant sounds, and the fresh scents that we are accustomed to during the Christmas season, the nativity scene that Saint Francis recreated was to help us meditate on the simplicity and the humility of the birth of our Lord. Because, after all, Jesus Christ, our King, the Son of God, entered into history by way of a manger, a feeding box for animals, in poverty and in desolation, surrounded by that barnyard smell. God, who gave us the gift of Himself, chose to become poor for our sake.
As Saint Francis stood before the manger that night of the first nativity scene, he was so moved that, according to Saint Bonaventure, “he bathed in tears and radiant with joy.”
Christmas traditions, rituals, and even decorations do a lot more than just bring back memories of childhood jubilation. They have the power to move the senses, helping us remember the true meaning of Christmas.
And so, if preparing early for Christmas will yield to a deeper transformative experience, past the fun childhood memories of Christmas mornings, then let the holly hang, let the Christmas lights twinkle, and let the Christmas bells ring early. May that extended time along with the Christmas traditions help us better prepare our hearts. May they help us remember that the true source of our joy lies not in these ephemeral and material manifestations but the gift of Christ himself to the world.
When Saint Francis meditated on the birth of our Lord, he was overcome with joy. May we, too, find this time to be overcome with that same joy this Christmas. This 2020, we have a lot to be hopeful for and our joy and our prayer remains: “Emmanuel”—God with us!
The Savior is Born for Us!
Over those years of my youth, Pope John Paul II’s leadership and prayers, particularly this one below, shaped my understanding of the faith and Christmas:
The Saviour of the world has come down from heaven. Let us rejoice!
This proclamation, filled with deep rejoicing,
echoed in the night of Bethlehem.
Today the Church renews it with unchanged joy:
the Saviour is born for us!
A wave of tenderness and hope fills our hearts,
together with an overpowering need for closeness and peace.
In the crib we contemplate the One
who stripped himself of divine glory
in order to become poor, driven by love for mankind.
Beside the crib the Christmas tree, with its twinkling lights,
reminds us that with the birth of Jesus
the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity.
The crib and the tree: precious symbols,
which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas!
(Christmas 2003 Urbi et Orbi Papal Address and Apostolic Blessing)
