Christmas used to be the holiday I loved the most. I remember as a kid, I eagerly waited for Christmas every year, dreaming about a tall Christmas tree at home with lots of gifts underneath. As a teenager, I was disappointed because I could not go out to have fun during the Christmas holidays. As a university student, I went out for Christmas carolling and Christmas countdown... I even chose to be baptised in the Christmas service, simply because I love Christmas.
Christmas was still my favourite time of the year until not long ago. I didn't even know when I stopped feeling like that.
I don't think it was when I realised a lot of people went to carolling for a Christmasy feel, something seemingly meaningful to do in the Christmas time before going off to the celebrations for fun. I don't think it was when I realised how I contributed to the global environmental pollution by doing all those "gift exchanges" during parties. I don't think it was when I realised Christmas has become a ploy for merchants to get us to buy things "for our loved ones and for ourselves".
I don't know when the change happened, only that it did. And all the reasons above have contributed to it. And now Christmas is no more than a few days of leave for me.
(Before some of you may start scolding me for forgetting the fact that this is the BIG day of Jesus' birth and then I launch into this long discussion of how this was not THE day and how 2 of the 4 Gospels did not even mentioned Jesus' birth, I am going to tell you please read on and that I think Easter is much more meaningful. If I could choose again, I would have chosen to be baptised in Easter instead.)
Christmas is hijacked even among Christians by the world (Easter as well, but much less so), we have adopted all these Christmas celebrations without thinking. Why do we need to buy gifts for each other in Christmas? If we need to give someone something, shouldn't that someone be Jesus/God? Why do we need to have Christmas parties? The list goes on...
I didn't quite get it before when I heard some Christians saying Christmas should be called Winterval instead, because it has become a mere festival for most. A few days ago, I read this article on how Christmas should be re-named: Kenotic (Emptying/Humbling) festival. (The original article is in Chinese, and the original author used the term "降卑節", just in case my less than adequate translation caused any misunderstanding.) This was when Jesus humbled himself to become a human in order to save us.
He did not save us so that we can indulge ourselves and have fun (oh yes, sometimes we use the term "joy" instead to represent the same thing) during his "birthday". If only we can celebrate his "birthday" by serving others, and experiencing the life of the poor and the deprived, his "birthday" would become a much more meaningful event for all.
The way Christmas has departed from its original meaning is also an indication of how the church has followed the world down the consumerist and hedonistic path. Yes, we do criticize shopping arcades for putting Santa Claus and reindeers up as decorations instead of the Nativity Scene, but we shop and celebrate and consume just like every other non-Christian in the Christmas season, AFTER going to the Christmas/Christmas Eve service. Is that the only difference we have as Christians, that we celebrate Christmas as Jesus' birthday instead of just a festive holiday?
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