Christmas is done. The only thing left is to take down the tree and put all the decorations back in storage. Technically the Christmas season really continues until Epiphany on January 6. That is the day tradition holds that the wise men arrived and gave their gifts to Jesus. It’s more complicated than that, but we don’t have time for that. You know the song, The 12 Days of Christmas, well the events in that song start today and continue to Epiphany.
In centuries past, the Christmas season didn’t start in November. If you really had the time to study it, you’d find the celebration of Christmas has changed a lot over the centuries. The fact is that most of what we currently do, we made up – even the Christmas story itself. Our current festivities are based on a retelling after retelling of the story and adding details, dropping others and bringing in story lines from other faiths and belief systems. It gets complicated.
Even in my own life there have been changes. Perhaps the biggest change is in how I experience the holiday season. As a child, the excitement and anticipation was the main thing. We were waiting for Santa and the big Christmas meal. Getting a tree and decorating it was a big part of the fun.
As I age, many of the traditions and activities of my younger days start to loose their importance. Trees are nice, and we had two this year. One our regular artificial tree and the other a live tree that our 18 year old grandson wanted to get. It was fun to buy it and he did a lot of the work putting it up, but the real meaningful part of that day wasn’t putting up the tree. What meant the most was just spending time with him and his brother. We had lunch, bought a tree and so on … but even if we didn’t do anything other that talk and spend time with each other, the day would have been just as fun.
That’s where all the traditions come to just one point for me – they all act to bring us together in community, friendship and family. We didn’t have a big Christmas this year and decided to take our daughter to a restaurant for a meal instead of cooking. We still managed to overeat and over spend, but the real joy was just simply conversation with loved ones.
Andrew's View of the Week 
Often times the most simple Christmas is the one we remember most. Glad you had a nice one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We did!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds like a lovely celebration! We’re pretty low-key about Christmas – a nice meal with close family is the most important part. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is the most important part.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with the philosophy behind your observations. Aside from acknowledging the birth of Christ, Christmas is about spending time with family.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If there is one thing wrong about Christmas, is the number of people who ignore that this whole is really about remember Christ – the rest is just a fun winter festival. This year we weren’t able to attend Sunday service in person, but thanks to the internet, we got to see it on-line. Not the same, but the best we could do.
LikeLike
You are so right, Andrew. The traditions are what make Christmas. Our kids were on the East Coast and we don’t have too many friends over so our traditions are now about husby and me, calling family on the holiday. I love that you got a tree with your grandson. How very special.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It was a fun day getting the tree.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We keep our live tree up as long as we still have a local option to recycle it, which expires around the end of January. Just not willing to let the season go so quickly. It’s a little harsh how the Christmas celebration ends on December 26th, especially the music on the radio. And this year our daughter confused the biblical events of Christmas with Easter, which led to a hilarious debate about whether Jesus was born in a manger or a cave. In her defense, some accounts say he was born in a cave.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It’s odd how things change, the Christmas season used to start on Christmas Day. Even as a child, I recall that we wouldn’t get a tree until maybe the 20th or 22nd.
and if you look up Jesus’ birth in the Bible – almost none of the stories we tell today about it are there …
LikeLiked by 1 person
It sounds like a wonderful Christmas.
LikeLiked by 2 people
It was!
LikeLike
Apparently, the way we celebrate Christmas owes a great deal to Prince Albert, the German husband of Queen Victoria, who brought a great many traditional activities with him from his homeland. The need to celebrate Christmas fully was hugely emphasised by the appearance of “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, which was published around th same time. (All courtesy of “TV, the Great Educator”)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, prior to that it was mostly a religious holiday. Here in the states, it was greatly commercialized by the arrival of Santa Claus.
LikeLiked by 1 person