Wait! Don't Cancel Christmas!

 

We're not having Christmas this year. 

No Christmas? 

Don't come home. We're not getting together. We're not celebrating this year. 

Okay...

You live too far away to travel and might bring the virus with you. Our sister works around people with the virus every day, and our brother went to a place where a large group of people gathered last week. You all could bring it home, give it to mom and dad. We can't have Christmas. 

So, what are we doing instead? 

Nothing. 

As I read the last text message on my phone, I contemplated my next reply. I wanted to scream at the phone, yell at my older sibling that canceling Christmas wasn't an option. You can't celebrate canceling joy in the world, especially at a time when so many of us need it. Sure, we can forget about the gifts, because that was never really what Christmas has or really be about. 

There are babies born every day, someone forgot to tell them they were entering a world in a season of a pandemic. We can't stop babies coming into the world no more than we can stop celebrating Christmas. 

Jesus came. He was born, and His life mattered. 

How we choose to celebrate the birth of God's son may appear different from what it has in the past. It's not the same as celebrating the birth of our own children or someone close to us. But nor can we cancel something that simply requires us to acknowledge the presence of HOPE in our lives. 

The party may be canceled this year, but the HOPE we can bring each other has no bounds. 

You can't cancel HOPE. 

He who came was a gift to us by God. 

You might not have wanted that gift, or asked for that gift, or even acknowledged that gift, but don't cancel something that is freely given. 

Christmas is a time of giving hope. You can do that in more ways than gathering around a table, fighting over the last cookie your sister-in-law baked because she makes the best ones. 

There are ways to give others HOPE in this season of turbulation.  

It's different this year, going against our usual traditions. For some, this is more difficult than others. I get that. I really do. As a person of habit, routine, and planning, there is a certain comfort that comes from holding onto what we know when our world feels upside down. 

The tree is still going up, some old ornament, and some new will grace its branches. Less gifts may reside beneath it, but not with less meaning. Less is more. Cookies will still be baked, and stockings hung. Cards and family letters will still go out to family and friends. Homemade hot chocolate and Hallmark Christmas movies on Christmas Eve won't go interrupted. Calling parents, siblings, and friends on Christmas day is expected. This year we might even Zoom, or Skype, or see each other's ugly faces on Google Hangouts. 

No worries. No stress of packing up the family and trekking to another town and sleep on couches or worry about flying and hotels. The money saved there, alone, can be added back in the family budget, shared in other ways. There are advantages to staying home this year. 

But staying home doesn't mean we cancel Christmas. 

It only means we embrace this season in a new way. 

It means we adapt and find grace for situations we can't control, and we sigh a relief in not having to deal with those hard to be around relatives. Next Christmas is still on. Next year, you regroup, add a little of the new from now, and mix back in the tradition. It might mean attending church services online, mailing gifts, or sending no gifts at all. It might mean digital Christmas cards or ones made by hand. It might mean being alone and taking in a shelter pet for company to help get through the day. 

HOPE comes in many forms. 

Hold on to it. 

Hold onto Christmas. 

Don't let anyone tell you that the reminder of Jesus coming into our lives has been canceled this year. The way we choose to celebrate His birth is entirely up to us. 

So I encourage you in this season, to go forth, continue to spread HOPE, and keep celebrating Christmas.