Christmas is not Modern

I heard Christmas music on the radio and in the malls this year -- a day or so before Thanksgiving. I saw some weird lawn art too: Santa in a bass boat, the Grinch, and even an inflatable manger scene. I don't know where a person buys that stuff, but it all looks so tacky and silly to me. I know, it's for the little kids. Kids love cartoons, and tacky, silly stuff, so I chuckle and drive on resisting the evil temptation to unplug the blowers and douse the lights. My pastor commented on this subject in a recent homily that gave me a fresh perspective. The gist of it was that all the lights, music and silly lawn art was nevertheless a reminder that this is ultimately and undeniably all about Christ's birth, so bring it on; the more, the merrier! The Christmas music before Thanksgiving was good too. After all, Advent was once a season that lasted a full 40 days.

The thing is that Christmas is not a modern notion no matter how hard folks try to secularize, modernize and commercialize it. I've been told that all the clerks in the stores are required to say "happy holidays," but I bet 90% of the responses I heard were, "and a Merry Christmas to you too." Not a small number of the clerks responded with a "Merry Christmas." Also, I was thankful for that little double standard amongst retailers that seems to survive year after year -- none of them in my town sold "holiday trees" this year.

Christmas forces us to look backwards in time to the first Christmas. More folks attend Mass (or go to their church) on Christmas. Why? There is, I submit, a longing for something relevant, meaningful and ancient that people inevitably find, even if just a little bit, in their many and varied Christmas traditions each year. Some of it is subliminal and unwitting, even unconscious.

G.K. Chesterton (died 1936) loved Christmas. Here is some of what he said about it: "Christmas is an obstacle to modern progress. . .. Born among miracles reported from two thousand years ago, it cannot expect to impress that sturdy common sense which can withstand the plainest and most palpable evidence for miracles happening at this moment. . ..Christmas is not modern. . . . Christmas is medieval. . .. Christmas is a survival of the past."

No matter how much progress we see in our world, Christmas is unchanging. All the trappings, even the silly, tacky stuff, just serve to remind us all the more. I like to fly fish. I think I'll go to Wal-Mart and see if they have any after Christmas specials on inflatable fly fishing Santas -- hopefully one with waders on. Merry Christmas!