December 26th- The Great Letdown

    An odd thing happened in the universe this morning.

    The Christian radio stations stopped playing Mariah Carey and the secular stations stopped playing Amy Grant. Stomachs around the country began growling at their owners on account of the perpetual stuffing of sweets that had been going on for the past few weeks. People began turning on the TV in a desperate attempt to watch a "normal" movie that doesn't have elves and lots of snow and someone in every family is inevitably asleep and snoring in their recliner. The biggest day of the year is over and this is the day after.

    I think it is weird how over the years we have started Christmas earlier and earlier but we end it as soon as possible. Most of the time, we are sick of Christmas by the end of Christmas day. We all hate that person who is still singing Christmas songs until New Years or the guy who keeps his lights up until St. Patrick's Day (unless you are like most people who live in Florida and are too old to ever take them down). We find ourselves in an odd paradox because the world is back to the way it was but your Christmas tree is still up and you keep finding bits of wrapping paper stuck to your feet reminding you that something big must have happened. It is a little anticlimactic to be honest.

    We have all seen the movies. Christmas is about spending time with family and being a good person. Everything is happy at Christmas if you just "believe." All the children of the world sing in the harmony of peace and friendship and everybody loves everybody. Miracles can happen now, because it is Christmas and all. Nothing could be better.

    Then it is all over the next day.

The world expects so much out of Christmas that it seems like the first chance we get we kick back and lower our expectations. You don't have to be the family loving, charitable, God-fearing and miracle believing person you have been for the last month and a half, Christmas is over. It is time to put Jesus and Santa back on the make believe shelf and get back to normal.

    I might be wrong here, but isn't the whole point of Christmas the fact that a baby came and changed everything so that we couldn't go back to "normal" after meeting Him. Everybody in your nativity scene was changed the night they visited that stable. Their lives were altered completely. If December 26^th looks the same as every other day of the year, doesn't it mean December 25^th wasn't real enough?

    Again, correct me if I'm wrong but don't homeless people need to eat on December 26^th too? Everybody does charity this time of year, but I understand. January is far too busy to keep spending time with your family and being nice to people, especially homeless people. After all, you have a whole list of resolutions you have to forget about by February and that is very time consuming.

    Imagine what the world would be like if we were the same people we are on Christmas every other day of the year. I hate that it takes a flood of media and tradition to get us to be who we were created to be every day of the year. I think we rob Christmas of what it was intended to be when we only celebrate it once a year. Now I am not saying we should do like that cheesy movie and have Christmas every day but we need to remember who we are capable of being on Christmas and apply that to every day. Sometimes we can surprise our self with how good a person we are on Christmas.

    The son of God came into this world of hate and rejection to change everything forever. Emmanuel means "God with us," not "God was with us." He is still here, changing everything no matter what day of the year it is. Let's do the same.