Keeping Christ in Christmas

A lot of families go to great lengths to "prove" to their children that there really is a Santa Claus. Some families have an elf that moves around the house doing different activities, moving only when no one is looking. We watch movies featuring Santa, including "Santa Claus is Coming To Town," "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer", and "Miracle on 34th Street." Our family's Christmas season started out this year with a bang - on the day after Thanksgiving we got to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole and see Santa Claus. It was a lot of fun!

For Christmas last year, my parents gave us a book entitled, A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman. In the introduction, the author tells about a day when she was driving in the car with her young daughter listening to Christmas Carols, when her daughter told her, "Mom, I believe in Santa Claus, and you  believe in Jesus Christ." She realized then that she had spent more time teaching her children of the reality of Santa Claus than she had spent teaching them of the reality of Jesus Christ.

Do we do this? What are we teaching our children about Christmas and why we celebrate it? How can we keep our Christmas centered around Jesus Christ, the one who's birth we celebrate? (I'm not saying that it is wrong to teach our children about Santa; I'm just suggesting that for those of us who believe in Christ -  he should be at the center of our celebrations.)

Traditions

One way we can keep Christ in our Christmas is through traditions. President Thomas S. Monson said, "Christmas is what we make of it. Despite all the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is at the center of our celebration. If we have not already done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and for our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas." (Thomas S. Monson, "Because He Came", 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, December 2011)

In A Christ Centered Christmas, the author suggests seven traditions that help us remember the Savior. These include things like offering gifts of service, singing Christmas Carols, and giving thanks.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf told of one of his family traditions: 

As an old family tradition, our family has always celebrated the Advent of Christmas. Starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, we would get together on Sunday afternoons, light wax candles on a pine Advent wreath, enjoy delicious homemade cookies, and read passages of scriptures that center on the Christ.

We read accounts of ancient prophets who yearned for the coming of the Messiah. We read scriptures that proclaim the wondrous story of His birth. Each week by singing beautiful Christmas songs and having a fun time together, our family tried to refocus on the true meaning of the season. I must admit that delicious hot chocolate, hot apple cider, and tasty homemade cookies helped a lot to catch the joyful feeling of the Christmas season!

While celebrating the Advent of Christmas is not part of all cultures around the globe, there is something we can learn from this widespread Christian tradition. Perhaps even this year we might carve from our busy schedules some time to study and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas—personally and as families. (Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Seeing Christmas through New Eyes," 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional)

One of my favorite memories of Christmas traditions when I was growing up included going caroling with my family. I come from a large and musical family, so singing with them felt like singing in a choir. I loved being part of that; I loved hearing the four part harmony; I loved the expressions on our neighbors faces when they saw us. This year I went caroling with my husband and children, and while the quality of the music may have been different from what I had experienced as a youth, it was still fun, and the expressions on the recipients' faces were still precious.

Another of my favorite Christmas traditions was our Christmas Eve celebration. We would gather together, dress in costumes of bathrobes and towels and sheets, and while my dad read the Christmas story from Luke 2, we would act out the nativity, stopping every minute or two to sing a relevant Christmas Hymn. I loved the Spirit which I felt on those occasions, the Christmas Spirit, the family togetherness. This is a tradition that we have carried on with our own children.

Several years ago, one of my sisters sent us a white stocking for Christmas with instructions on another tradition: hanging a Christmas stocking for Jesus. Into his stocking would go slips of paper with gifts for him written on them - maybe acts of service, maybe changes in our own life that we felt would be pleasing to him.

These are some of many traditions that we can create that will help us remember Christ and the true meaning of Christmas.

Symbolism

President Thomas S. Monson said, "This joyful season brings to all of us a measure of happiness that corresponds to the degree to which we have turned our minds, feelings, and actions to the Savior, whose birth we celebrate."(Thomas S. Monson, "A Bright Shining Star", 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional, December 2010) 

Another way that we can turn our minds to the Savior is through the use of symbolism. The symbols of Christ are all around us at Christmas, but they don't help us to remember him unless we know what they are and we think about them when we see them.

Here are a few of the symbols that I have come across:

• Green – eternal life, immortality, rebirth
• Red – Blood of Christ, sacrifice
• Evergreen trees – immortality, eternal life through Christ, hope, resurrection, perseverance and resilience to adversity, enduring to the end, the tree of life/knowledge, hope
• Red ornaments on Christmas tree – fruit of the tree of knowledge, represent the fall of Adam which brought the need for a Savior
• Wreaths - eternity as well as the symbols associated with evergreens and holly.
• Angels – announcement of Christ’s birth
• Candles/ Lights/ Stars – Light of Christ, guidance, beacons to lead to Christ
• Bells – Announcement of Christ’s birth, part of Priest’s vestments, joy
• Dove – peace, Holy Ghost
• Holly – hardiness, immortality, crown of thorns, Berries - blood of Christ
• Mistletoe – (a parasite) love, dependence on God who loves and sustains us
• Gifts – given to Christ by wise men, Christ’s gift to us of atonement
• Fruit – fruits of the Spirit
• Santa Claus – generosity, anonymous giving
• Gingerbread Men – Creations, color of the dust of the earth, doomed to destruction, mortality, need for a Savior
• M&Ms – M for manger, 3 for three wise men, W for wise men, E for east
• Candy Canes – J for Jesus, cane for shepherds who visited and Good Shepherd, white for purity (Christ’s sinless life), red stripes for blood (“With his stripes we are healed” - Isaiah), sweet for the gospel, hard for the Rock of our Redeemer, peppermint flavor resembles hyssop, a spice used for Passover and purification, meant to be broken and shared like sacrament 

Also on my Christmas tree hangs a rusty nail with a red scrap of cloth tied to the top, to remind me of the atonement and crucifixion of Christ.

We also have several nativity scenes around as more obvious reminders of the true meaning for the Christmas holiday.

Focus

The month of December can be a busy, chaotic one. It is full of Christmas parties for school, work and church, holiday concerts, baking treats to eat and to share, shopping for the perfect gift for every person on our lists. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with everything that I want to do, and it is hard to feel the peace of the season that I would like to feel. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “If we notice that planning for parties and scrambling for presents begin to detract from the peaceable message of Jesus Christ and distance us from the gospel He preached, let us take a step back, slow down a little, and reconsider what matters most“ (”Seeing Christmas through New Eyes,“ 2010 First Presidency Christmas Devotional).

I really appreciated something my cousin, Kim, wrote on her blog recently. She wrote:

This year I will . . .
give fewer presents, but more time;
let the small things go, and focus on the big things;
stop the hunt for bigger and better, and give thanks for all I have;
yell less, and laugh more;
say no to the things that I don't care about, and find ways to serve;
forget the worrying, and seek out joy;
turn off some of the noise, so I can enjoy the peace of the season;
and fill my heart with the true spirit of Christmas.
(http://monthlymamamiscellany.blogspot.com/2013/12/occupy-christmas.html)

When we eliminate the extra, the unnecessary, and the distractions, it will help us to focus on the important things this season. It will help us to remember a pregnant woman who traveled over ninety miles in four or five days, riding a donkey over dirty and dusty roads. It will help us to remember a young man, with concern for his weary wife, searching for a place to stay in a crowded city where there was no room in the inn(s). We will remember the shepherds who saw an angel and decided to travel back to the city to see the baby they had been told about. We will remember wise men who traveled hundreds of miles with a star for a guide, bringing gifts fit for a king to a tiny child who had been born in a humble stable. We will remember that this godly baby was born so that he could live a perfect life, and then suffer for our sins so we could be forgiven. He came to die and return to life so that we too can one day resurrect and live forever. He came to enable the work and glory of his Father: the immortality and eternal life of men. (Moses 1:39)

(I got to teach the Christmas lesson in Relief Society yesterday. This was essentially what I taught.)