"The Christmas Blahs"

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."  Luke 2:8-14

I've spoken to a lot of friends this past week and they all seem to share one thing in common,

The Christmas Blahs.

In 1965 "A Charlie Brown Christmas" debuted, and even back then, people seemed to get side-tracked from the true meaning of Christmas.

There are presents to buy and wrap, trees to decorate, cookies to bake, Cantata's and Church Programs and Plays to attend, families to visit, traditions to keep.  By the time every 'have-to' is finished we are so tired and burned out, we are ready for the holiday meal to be over, the tree set out by the curb and our decorations boxed up till next year.

I confess, this year, I have the Christmas Blahs.

Why is that?

Maybe it's because we have placed too much emphasis and physical effort on keeping our family traditions and fulfilling everyone else's expectations of us, that as we grow older it just becomes too much?

Maybe it's because we are spending too much time standing in the check-out line waiting to purchase that last-minute gift for the person, we almost forgot this year?

Or maybe it's because we have not rested in the Spiritual worship of our Saviour.

In our busyness we have forgotten the Reason of the Season.

Perhaps it's time to let go of the stressful expectations of others-

maybe it's time to let go of old traditions and make new ones-

One's with less materialism, to ones with more worship.

After all...

    Jesus is the Reason...

        For the Season...

            But that's just me!

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."  Linus Van Pelt