Christmas Expectations

Christmas Eve

Tonight’s the night! The one where people who have stacked up expectation upon expectation realize once more that we do not live in a Norman Rockwell painting. Kids who have built up unachievable expectations of happiness to come will open presents and find… Stuff, not happiness. Parents and other adults who have worked hard cooking, baking, and wrapping will discover that they have not achieved the Perfect Present either. Our expectations have been piled high and now is the time for them to tumble down around our ears.

It doesn’t have to be that way, but society tends to push us along down our defined path so that is what happens. Our ‘following the cattle chute’ experience is part of the reason that some kids grow up to hate Christmas. In a much more pointed way than Singles Awareness Day (14 Feb), Christmas reminds us of all the ways we have not lived up to our hype and the times when we were loneliest.  How appetizing does that “must do” list look now?

So if this is what happens when we expect unhealthy perfection what other option do we have? Some folks will skip the day entirely or have it be a quiet “just the religious stuff” day with presents “if we must.” An alternative is to find resurrection, to find and make something new in the place where we are told that social expectations are the most important thing.

Approach it like and ultralight hiker or a minimalist, ask “what is most important” and do that. Dig into the richness of the day and find what resonates most deeply. In short, when social pressures push you to react without thinking (the way any good high-pressure salesman will), think. Breathe in, breathe out, and begin something new.

It is this new thing, this new life, that is part of this time of year. We’ve had the solstice and the days are growing longer so there will be another growing cycle, another year of life. We celebrate the God who loves the cosmos intimately through a person who danced on his mother’s bladder and kicked her kidneys until finally putting her through the pain of birth (thanks son, I love you too). This person came into a simple, humble space that stank because stables hold animals and animals need a bathroom too.

In this birth we have a new option of how to live in the world: with attention and thoughtfulness. This is because the very human and humane God we follow is intimately, attentively wrapped up in this beautiful cosmos and as we pay attention we can see those tiny, tender hands making all things new.

Blessed Christmas to you all.