Don't Celebrate Christmas! (Yet)

The following is an editorial I published in my high school's monthly bulletin.  I doubt anyone will pay it much mind, but I share it here for whatever it might be worth...

This past week, one of my students wanted to play so-called “Christmas music” during class.  You know, tunes like Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You and Wham!’s Last Christmas, etc.  I said no, which immediately resulted in my being labelled a grinch.  I mean, after all, Christmas is only a month away!  What’s your problem, Mr. Cibenko?  Back in the ‘90s, someone might have alternatively asked me, “What is your glitch?”  So, I decided to take this opportunity to explain my glitch.

I grew up in a strange era in history when people would decorate the outside of their homes for Halloween about a week before the actual day – if they even decorated at all.  For the majority of the common folk, an obligatory pumpkin on the porch would do.  For the more zealous, maybe a life-size skeleton or vampire cutout hanging on the front door.  But nowadays people display an arsenal of spooky decor around the end of August, beginning of September at the very latest.  I have neighbors with so many oversized inflatable Halloween lawn decorations that they have to rent a storage shed to house them for the rest of the year.

Similarly, the decorations for Christmas, in a bygone era generally reserved for the month of December, post-Thanksgiving at the earliest, now seem to appear as early as November 1st.  My neighbors across the street have had their nativity scene, right alongside Santa and his sleigh, Frosty the Snowman, and the Grinch, on the front lawn for at least three weeks.  Local radio station WSUS has been doing their annual 24/7 holiday music thing since the beginning of November and, just tonight, my town had some kind of big Christmas parade.  In short, the general consensus in our culture is that the Christmas season is already in full swing.

So, what’s the problem?

Well…

What would you say if I told you that the Christmas season does not actually begin until … hold onto your horses … Christmas Eve.  Yes, that’s right!  Christmas doesn’t END with Christmas – it BEGINS with it!  Do you know an old song called The Twelve Days of Christmas?  That song reflects the fact that the Christmas season begins with Christmas and extends to a feast day, twelve days later, called Epiphany.  (And it actually officially continues for one more week after that!)  So, when most people are recovering from the prolonged celebration and taking down all the decorations, the season is actually just beginning.

So, why does our culture begin the celebration of Chrstmas so prematurely?  Well, I’d say, just as is the case with the premature celebration of all the other holidays, it mainly has to do with money.  (Money isn’t the only reason, but it’s a big one.)  Let’s face it, there’s a lot of profit to be made on holidays.  And the sooner and longer corporate America can position these cash-cow seasons, the better their bottom lines.  But do we pay a more costly price for the artificially altered celebration schedule?  I would argue that indeed we do.

I can recall, when I was growing up, times when we were expecting company to come over for some occasion – perhaps dinner guests, or maybe even relatives from overseas who would stay with us for an extended visit.  My parents would go to great lengths to prepare the house – making sure everything was clean, that there was enough food and drink, fresh sheets on beds, even things like extra toiletries and fresh cut flowers for the guest bedroom and dining room table.  My siblings and I were expected to help.  And if we began celebrating before the arrival of the guests (e.g., eating food in the fridge that was meant for the welcome dinner, jumping on beds neatly made up for the visitors, etc.), we’d catch holy heck from mom.

So what does any of that have to do with Christmas?  Well, in a very real sense, the true meaning of Christmas has to do with the arrival of a special guest of honor.  What does it say about us when we “uncork the champagne” and begin imbibing before that guest even arrives?  What state will the hosts and home be in when that guest comes through the door?

At this point, you might be asking, well, when are we supposed to have our Christmas fun?  The simple answer – beginning with Christmas!  The next logical question might be, “What are we supposed to do all those weeks BEFORE Christmas?”  The answer to that question is another season, one of which perhaps you’ve never heard, called Advent.

The word “advent” literally means “the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.”  Advent, the four weeks preceding Christmas, is meant to be a time of preparation – just as one might prepare for a special guest to one’s home.  Rather than dive headlong into all the “Christmassy” stuff, there are all sorts of Advent traditions that most of us miss out on.  And much of it is quite enjoyable!  There are things like Advent wreaths and candles, calendars filled with chocolates, cookies and tea, and something called a Jesse Tree (my German relatives don’t even decorate their Christmas tree until Christmas Eve).  There’s even a special kind of music for Advent – it’s called Gregorian chant.  If you’ve never heard of that, check it out.  It’s pretty intense.

So, to my students who might wonder why I don’t get excited about the typical “holiday” music and all the other pre-Christmas “Xmas” fanfare, it’s not because I’m a grinch.  In a very real sense, you’re actually grinching me and others (even yourselves) out of the joys and benefits of Advent.  At a time of year when many experience heightened levels of stress, anxiety, even depression, the contemplative mode of Advent can be just the medicine for such ills.

[Here’s a little sample of Gregorian chant.  If you’re ever feeling stressed or sad, try giving it a listen.]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fOSCggyDEw