What I Want for Christmas

Please listen to this song.

"And how did little Tim behave?'' asked Mrs Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart's content.

"As good as gold,'' said Bob, "and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.''

Bob's voice was tremulous when he told them this, and trembled more when he said that Tiny Tim was growing strong and hearty.

- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

I'll go ahead and admit that I can't read that without tears springing to my eyes. I can't talk about it without getting too choked up to speak. I seriously can't even hear that line in bold spoken by Kermit the Frog without openly crying. (By the way - The Muppet Christmas Carol happens to be my favorite film adaptation of the book, hands down.)

Listen to this song, too, please.

By far, my favorite ornament on my parents' Christmas tree is the one of the Baby in the manger with Santa Claus, hat in hand, kneeling by His side in humble worship. I kinda have a soft spot for Santa Claus in the first place (which I'm sure is an earth-shattering surprise for all of you - a big jolly fat guy like me with a penchant for cookies is a fan of Santa?), but once you get the two personifications of Christmas reunited in that kind of thing, cheesy as it may be to some, I just can't help but get all sniffly.

I suppose I should let you know that I seriously cry at the drop of a hat anytime between the day after Thanksgiving and Boxing Day. "Good King Wenceslas," "O, Holy Night," well-timed renditions of the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's Messiah... The tears, they flow.

It's Christmas. Listen to some music.

Last year, it seemed like everybody was upset about Christmas becoming too Christian, what with its roots in the pagan solstice celebrations. This year, however, I'm seeing the exact opposite - I'm seeing people pitching absolute fits about how Christmas isn't Christian enough. Things like "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" and "Keep Christ in Christmas" keep popping up, as bumper stickers (on cars that cut people off in traffic and park illegally in handicapped zones), as shirts and sweaters (on people whose mouths do not in any way match their wardrobe), and as bullet points in political commentary (from people who make their living by villainizing anyone who disagrees with them).

And you know what? I'm really 110% behind the idea of keeping Christmas Christian.

I'd just like to see more folks living up to the standard that they're holding the rest of the world to.

I don't mind people getting up in arms to remind people that Christmas has traditional ties to the birth of Jesus and that we should all live more Christ-like lives because of it - I just want to see those same people do the Christ-like living part, too.

If Christians got half as mad about their own unrighteousness as they do the world's unrighteousness, we'd all be a whole lot better off.

Especially at Christmas.

Just for the sake of argument, let's say that December 25th actually is the correct date for the birth of Christ, just to make the "Reason for the Season" arguments correct.

Now, if Christmas really is a big birthday party for Jesus, which present do you think He would prefer:

1. A crowd of people loudly telling everybody else that they're messing up His party, especially when everybody else already chose not to attend in the first place?
2. A group of people coming together to focus on Him, no matter what everybody else is doing, no matter what day of the year it is?

I'm not saying we can't remind folks that the reason we, as Christians, choose to celebrate Christmas is as a remembrance of the birth of Christ. That's fine.

I just would prefer to see us do it with our lives instead of rhyming slogans on hastily designed bumper stickers.

I want to be like Tiny Tim. If people see me and they remember the birth of the One who made the deaf hear, then I'm happy.

But more than that, I want people to see me and remember the death of the One who made me righteous.

I want people to see my life and remember the resurrection of the One who transformed me from wretched, broken, dying sinner to sanctified, restored, living child of God.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!