Santamas: A Fake Christmas

Yes, it is that time of year again. Time for my annual Christmas rant. So if you like Christmas now as it is, close your eyes, hit the backspace (on internet explorer, hitting backspace is the same was hitting the back button) and turn away from this entry). But if you are looking for a new perspective, try thinking about this.

Growing up as a child, Christmas for the most part becomes a "gimme" time. All we think about this time is getting presents. We make sure all our friends, family, relatives and Santa know what we want for Christmas. When Christmas comes, we can hardly wait to open our presents, even to the point we get up extra early to do so. We are happy when we get what we want, and dissapointed in what we don't get. After Christmas, it comes a competiton among friends who got the most presents, who got the costliest presents and who got what they really wanted (vs. getting stuff they didn't ask for).

When we get to be adolesents, we usually earn our own money. So now we can usually buy the small things we want. The only thing we usually have the gimmes for is the expensive stuff that we cannot afford, and most likely neither do our parents. Another part of being a adolescent is having friendships closer than when you were a kid. Friends mean a lot for you and you want to show that you love and care about them. Now the competion of getting has switched to giving. We want to take our money and buy our friends the best and most expensive gift we can afford. While unmentioned, it becomes a competition between gift exchangers. You want to give a gift that is bigger and costlier than your friends', and if you friends cost more and is bigger, you feel bad. Feeling is a big piece in this game of gift giving. You only feel good about gift giving if your friends really likes the gift. If they quickly disregard it, you feel bad and don't like it.

Where do we get both of these ideas? The media, of course. Those commericials may seem boring, but they get to us. They tell us we must have something, almost to the point we need it. "If you have this product, you'll be happy" is the basic message they try to give us. The same applies for giving. A JC Penny commericial says it itself, "Better gifts get better reactions." They show commericials of people getting gifts, and the receiver is happy. They basically tell us that if we buy good (and usually expensive) gifts, we can make someone happy, which will make YOU happy. It's like we can buy our feelings!!

Whichever way we look at Christmas, either the "gimee way" or the "give you way", both end up tacking back to us. We either want literal, materialistic possessions, OR we want a feeling of gratitude, thankfulness, pride, happiness, or friendship back in return of giving an item. And sometimes, when we give, we do expect the receiver to give something back. With that in mind, we only give to friends who will know is getting you something for Christmas. Isn't that horrible?! This can get so bad, even to the point that Christmas becomes a second Valentine's Day!!! We give gifts to the person we have a crush on, or our boyfriend/girlfriend and we make sure it is the best one we have given. It's like our love can be displayed through physical gifts!!
The worse I have seen this been displayed is through a HORRIBLE tradition Christopher Dock Mennonite High School has. Every year you can go and buy candy canes for your friends (esp. boyfriends and girlfriends). These candy canes come with a note, which you personalize for your friends. During first period, they are handed out IN FRONT OF EVERYONE. Can you already see what is wrong with this picture?! Yes, it is guanteed than everyone gets at least one candy cane, but there is no control over the amount of candy canes one can get. There is no limit. Myself, I get one candy cane every year, sponsered by the Senate (Senate gives candy canes to those who do not receive a candy cane from anyone else). I have been cursed the past 3 years by being seated next to a girl (not the same girl, always a different one) who get over a dozen! Can you see the wrong feelings that these unchristian customs give on a Christian holiday?! Instead of getting a feeling of love and joy (the third and fourth weeks of advent), we get a feeling of being disliked and unloved. It makes us depressed. This is wrong. I refuse to take part in this nonsense. When in Senate, I tried to get rid of it, but the others fought back hard and were victorius (even though teachers complimented me for the idea). I protested it this morning. I broke the candy cane, ripped up the tag, and threw it away. I want no part it this craziness.

Doesn't it open your eyes? Can't you all of a sudden see why the Grinch wanted to steal Christmas, why Charlie Brown gets depressed every Chrtistmas, and every time Ebenezer Scrooge says "Bah Humbug" every time he hears about Christmas?! They have never felt the love return to them on Christmas!!

You could say, "Giving gifts on Christmas is a Christian idea. The 3 Magi gave gifts to baby Jesus. And the real St. Nicholas, a catholic saint, gave toys to the children." Yes, both are facts. But when either of them gave, were they expecting something back? Were the magi expecting Jesus, or his parents, to get them something in return? No. And while St. Nicholas gave toys to children, he gave them to POOR AND ORPHAN CHILDREN. This chidren could not afford to give back to St. Nick, even if they wanted to. In both cases, even though it might have given them a good feeling, both the wise men and St. Nick gave because they knew it was the right thing to do.

We really need to bring Christ back into the picture of Christmas. You're probably thinking, "Oh no, not another Jesus is the Reason for the Season speech." I think you guys have all heard this speeches, but have never listened to them. Last Sunday I did a skit for church. I played a man in the middle a fork in the road. One split in the road led to Christmas Bethlehem, while the other one led to Christmas Hollyday. The other character in the play, another girl from the youth girl (who I have a likin' for) was looking for Christmas, but didn't know which one to go to. The minute the scripture was read that said Bethlehem, she assumed that Christmas was in Bethlehem and started to head there. But when I asked her what was in her satchel (she laughed every time the word satchel was said), she had only items for a commericial Christmas, "a passport to Christmas Hollyday." Every time we we are told, "Jesus is the reason for the season" we think, "yeah, yeah, Santa is not the reason for Christmas, Jesus is, whatever." We hear it, but we don't put it to practice. We want to have Jesus number 1 in Christmas, but we still want to hold fast to our secular Christmas. We want to get stuff, and give stuff in return, so we get that warm, fuzzy feeling.

If you want to keep the Christmas way of giving, give in a different way, give like Jesus. Jesus performed many miracle in his earthly life, mainly healings. Every time he did, he never wanted anything back, no gifts. Everyone in the Bible seems to have this idea as well. Remember Naaman and Elisha (especially you quizzers of 2005)? Naaman wanted to thank Elisha by giving him a gift, but Elisha refused because he knew God didn't want anything in return. And when Gehazi went back to get this gift, God punished him for doing so! When you give don't expect anything back, not even the approval of the receiver. Giving a gift shouldn't make you a closer, better friend, and not giving a gift should not make you a bad friend. If this is true, I would seriously doubt your friendship. The best way to make sure you do this is give to someone you really don't know. This way you really don't expect to get anything in return. You can do this through many charities. This is another good way because these children are in a greater need of things. Such charites are the Salvation army, Angel Tree, Toys for Tots (the one I chose), and many others. Just like THE REAL St. Nick, you would be giving to those who are less fortuneate the normal, and not get anything back. That is the way Jesus would do it, and by doing this, it would bring back the true meaning of Christmas back. Because on that day, by being born, gave the give of his perfect life, so later on he could be the sacrifice for the sins of the world