How Our Friends’ Untraditional Christmas Changed Ours

Is it good that Christmas falls on a Sunday?
For me it’s helpful because I won’t have to publish an additional blog post this week.  So I’ll need to make this one good. How fitting, if your focus is Jesus, for Christmas to be on Sunday-the day most attend church.  However, if your focus is on anything other than Jesus maybe Christmas on a Sunday isn’t so great.

Should the day matter anyway?
Here’s something you should know.  December 25th was the day chosen as the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  There are clear indications that Jesus wasn’t actually born in December.  The point I want to make, just like early religious groups decided to celebrate the birth of Jesus on a particular day, so can you.  There’s no punishment for celebrating the birth of Jesus on another day.  God won’t renounce you as a Christian if you decide to celebrate any other day.  Honestly, it just makes a bigger impact on the world when we do it together on the same day.  I’m certain that Jesus would love you anyway, He just wants your celebration.

20161225-nlc-blog-how-our-friends-untraditional-christmas-changed-oursOrdinary people limit Christmas to 12/25.  I think we should celebrate Christmas everyday or at least more often than just once a year.  The uncommon take the limits off.

The greatest example which is displayed in most nativity scenes is that of the wise men.

“Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,”

“About that time”, not on December 25th nor at His birth, but about that time, these wise men arrived in Jerusalem.  They’d not made it to Bethlehem yet, but arrived in Jerusalem on their way.

“Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared.
After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.”

The wise men had to attend a private meeting with the king before getting on their way to see Jesus.  They didn’t make it for the official day as we think of it.  They got there when they could and because of their uncommon celebration of Jesus, we still talk about these wise men today.  They had no limits on Christmas.

Why moving Christmas may be the best thing for you?
I have an example of how my family takes the limits off Christmas.
We learned the art of making Christmas special from our good friends.  Most years, they were not able to celebrate Christmas on what is commonly known as Christmas Day.  Christmas time was major working days for the family’s machinery business.  They’d have to go perform maintenance on large equipment while the companies they serviced were down for the holidays.  So our friends, would celebrate Christmas days before and sometime many days after.  Knowing this family and understanding the real meaning of Christmas, was inevitably a huge influencer in the way my family celebrates Christmas today.

You see, we have a blended family and our daughter, Tamia, has to share Christmas with her mom and with us.  Being that Christmas and Tamia are so very special, Pamela and I decided many years ago to make things as easy for Tamia as possible; we wanted her time in both homes to be special.  We, along with her mom, decided not to flip-flop Christmas every other year and so forth, but instead make it possible for Tamia to celebrate it twice.  So, Pamela and I moved ‘Christmas Day’ in our home to the 24th of December.  Yep, Tamia gets to experience Christmas twice in 3 days (23-“our Christmas Eve”, 24, & 25).  

We feel that Tamia is special and so is Jesus so in an effort to show them both how precious they are, we do it twice and it has made for some very memorable times.

You should try making your Christmas uncommon.  I encourage it.  When you make it uncommon, unlike anything anyone has ever experienced, I believe you’re like those wise men, in that when they/you open gifts the greatest celebration will occur!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours, even if it’s not December 25th.

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