Does anyone else just get the humdrums around the holidays? I mean a solid two weeks of not wanting to do my favorite things, not wanting to even get out of bed in the mornings. I don't know whats the matter with me. I don't want to be alone, but I can't be around people.
Let me get up on my high horse here... umhh, argh... there (get's harder every year).
I can't speak for you, but I can for myself. Like most of us in this post-modern, post-Christian culture, I watch TV, drive around town, go to the mall, talk with people, go to work, etc.. And what do I find everywhere I go and everything I see or do? Expectation. Expectation to conform to the modern world's standard of Christmas, er... I mean, the "holidays". Regardless of what I believe or don't believe, it's there and it's just about unavoidable if you live a normal American life. I'm just about sick of the question, "Are you ready for Christmas?"
The primarily "Happy Holidays" greetings we hear (occasionally, "Merry Christmas") come either through the TV screen or from a check-out clerk. Along with that, especially from those who depend upon the "holidays" to keep their businesses in the black by year's end, become pretentiously nicer to us. Want a new Chevy Silverado? Come in now for a great "holiday" deal.
If the holidays/Christmas mean anything different to you than what the world preaches through it's sermons of snow-sparkled "happiness", "magic" and "giving", it is downright oppressive, even depressing. Even as a Christian who knows how and why the Christmas season came to be (not talking about pagan rituals of celebration), I actually struggle to fight against the depression that mounts in the weeks leading up to Christmas day. As a family, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to "perform" and "conform" to the unrealistic number of expectations the season brings. From decorating the house, to doing the shopping, to preparing dinners, to the expense, the time and the exhaustive effort. And for what? To celebrate Christ's birth? I wonder what He would say if I asked Him what
He wanted for Christmas? I doubt that it would be that I had a new Chevy Silverado.
I share your feelings of oppressiveness. The statistics regarding domestic violence, suicide, crime, etc. around the holidays are real, and it's no wonder that there is a correlation between the pressure the world exerts on people this time of year and their unwillingness, if not inability, to conform.
No, I'm not --- nor will I ever be --- "ready for" [the world's interpretation of] Christmas. I believe in Jesus, I believe in His birth, I believe He will come again. That --- and only that --- am I ready for.
