Reflection
“Christmas is not a day, it’s a season. The calendar of commerce exalts the preparation for Christmas then recognizes no time for letting Christmas develop naturally afterward. This creates a real psychic rupture that is felt not just our individual lives but in our social world…To observe even a part of the real Christmas season—that is after Christmas Day—is to draw a line in the sand against the commercial Christmas calendar and it is not an arbitrary line. Ideally, the burst of energy at Christmas works its way through the spirit over the following days until it is integrated into daily life…A world that could have twelve days of Christmas would be very different from our own. It would be run by the agricultural and pastoral calendar where at midwinter there is a time of leisure. There is a grace and spaciousness in the idea of twelve days, a lavish spending of time. To set aside twelve days of potentially productive time to celebrate a holiday would be a sacrifice. What God gives back is rest and pleasure.”
Christopher Hill, Holidays and Holy Nights
Prayer
May we be open to the Christmas promise of peace.
Action
Am I experiencing post-Christmas let down? How can I integrate the spirit of Christmas into my daily life?
Suggested Reading
He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth.
Luke 1:14
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke 2:20
The lights of the Christmas tree remind us that Jesus is the light of the world, the light of our souls that drives away the darkness of hatred and makes room for forgiveness.
Pope Francis
Christmas means a spirit of love, a time when the love of God and the love of our fellow men should prevail over all hatred and bitterness, a time when our thoughts and deeds and the spirit of our lives manifest the presence of God.
George F. McDougall
Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
Norman Vincent Peale
Next to a circus there ain’t nothing that packs up and tears out faster than the Christmas spirit.
Frank McKinney Hubbard
To the American People: Christmas is not a time or a season but a state of mind. To cherish peace and good will, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. If we think on these things, there will be born in us a Savior and over us will shine a star sending its gleam of hope to the world.”
Calvin Coolidge
I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.
Harlan Miller
It takes a long long time, and a lot of wisdom to discover the true Spirit of Christmas.
Sir kristian goldmund aumann