Christmas meanings, musings and ponderings

Editor’s note: This column was submitted by a reader who wishes to remain anonymous. While The Constitution does not normally run anonymous columns, we decided to make an exception in the spirit of the holidays.

A week before Christmas, one of my favorite folks at the grocery store was assisting holiday shoppers through self-checkout. Imagine a middle-aged lovely lady with an infectious smile, flaming red hair and always a helping hand. She’d make a great Santa’s helper or Mrs. Claus. After our usual cordial greetings, she looked up at me while busily opening bags for me to drop my items into and emphatically declared, “I am not putting up a tree this Christmas!”

“Neither am I,” I replied, “but you do have a nativity set to put out since this is the reason for the season?” As she did, I shared some family traditions she might enjoy. Firstly, my mother never put baby Jesus into the manger until Christmas Day, His birthday.

My friend was as dumbfounded as I when first learning of another family tradition from a dear friend. Nearing 80 years young, she still places the wise men across the room from the manger and each day moves them a bit closer so they arrive on Christmas Day. While growing up, her three daughters lightheartedly and eagerly jostled over who would move them each day.

I reminded my dear friend that the wise men had not arrived to the Holy Family until the Epiphany, which means ‘a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being,’ so says Oxford. The Epiphany usually occurs 12 days after Christmas; hence, the Twelve Days of Christmas (a Christmas carol namesake), which I thought for the longest time were the 12 days before Christmas. Also known as Three Kings’ Day, the Epiphany is when some cultures give the bulk of their gifts as this is when Jesus received His gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh. Sadly, this tradition is changing.

Earlier this day, a mother spoke over the radio how years ago her young children were not content with their many Christmas gifts and usually annoyingly played with their siblings’ gifts. Amongst the chaos, she announced that baby Jesus received only three gifts and, henceforth, so would they. I add that not one of us comes close to Jesus’ perfection and that two presents were probably one more than we deserved, if that. “That’s for sure!” she quipped with a chuckle and smile.

Nor did I put Christmas lights outside this year. Hung my usual tinsel garland around the front porch illuminated by my neighbors’ Christmas lights which glitter my tinsel till morning, more so with a breeze. Found a lovely lighted Star of Bethlehem now hanging inside in my window which further illuminates the tinsel.

Amongst the hustle and bustle, time was in slow motion for us. She looked up and exclaimed in an epiphany, “It’s a Story!!!!” Through her now sparkling eyes, I could see her brain clicking away like the cash registers nearby as she took it all in. “Yes! It is a story and a season,” said I.

In the Catholic (meaning ‘universal’) tradition, the Christmas season begins four Sundays before Christmas. These weeks are called the season of Advent which means ‘the arrival of a notable person, thing or event,’ so says Oxford. Advent is a time of anticipation, reflection and cleansing our selfish ways to prepare the way of the Lord for the great feast day of Christmas.

We said our holiday farewells as I daringly escaped out the door without looking back to see if others were listening or, worse, irked that I was holding up the self-checkout counter. Driving home, I reflected on this encounter and pondered more why I had already placed Mary and Joseph in my manger waiting for Jesus’ birth. My wise men were already across the room, East of the manger from whence they traveled thousands of years ago. Mary and Joseph, too, were traveling — south from Nazareth to Bethlehem for Caesar’s census. Once home, I promptly moved the expectant parents across the room away from the wise men and placed the animals in the manger with shepherds nearby.

Thirty years ago, an extremely gruff, old soldier pulled me aside before Christmas in the Northwest. She asked me to join her for her Christmas tradition. I was all in! We went to a religious charity and asked the name, ages and address of everyone in a needy family that they were working with. We divvied up the gift list. My daughter, Special sister, and I were filled with the Christmas Spirit as we shopped, wrapped and bundled presents for five children and a single, working mother. We included a full Christmas meal with all the trimmings.

It was a cold, windy Christmas Eve as we loaded the car. En route, it started to drizzle and luckily we easily found the home in a town new to us from written directions before the days of GPS and Mapquest. We parked a few houses down and trekked the gifts in the dirty, melting snow to the front porch. Everyone positioned behind the trees on the front yard except me who rang the doorbell then darted behind a tree before the door opened. We watched with great joy, shivering in soggy socks as it was now raining. Once the door closed, we rushed for our cars. Underneath the gruff, was the most tender human I’d ever met. She’d grown up dirt poor on an Indian reservation with around 13 or so siblings and nothing for Christmas.

Frankincense and myrrh incense whiff through my home at Christmastime. It might be time to place some gold with the wise men as well. As an aside, all three gifts to baby Jesus were and are still used medicinally in the Eastern tradition in addition to their other values and uses. Last year, I’d found a Twelve Days of Christmas baking mold at an estate sale and shared two batches with a note of the hidden meaning of each day. Plan to do the same this year.

Pondering more, I wondered why I hadn’t been living The Christmas Story even more fully. To more fully enjoy the season, I’ve also decided not to hectically prepare all the favorite edibles for Christmas Day. I’ll parcel them out over the 12 days from Christmas through the Epiphany, making each day a celebration ending with opening at least one gift on the Epiphany. I’ve probably gone over the edge, but I’m pondering what edibles fit the season such as lamb and shepherd pie. Feeling like a kid again, as we should, with the Spirit of Christmas!

Individually, collectively and nationally, we need a moral compass — whether aimed toward the True North, the Star of Bethlehem, or the Star that can shine brightly in our souls to enlighten us if we so choose. Real civilizations of worth have such; it is what makes and keeps us civilized. It is what allows Goodwill towards all.

We can joyously reclaim Christmas from commercialization whether we’re religious or not. It is a time of Goodwill to All. We can enliven The Christmas Story for more than a day, for more than just the climax of the Christmas story. Can you think of a more fitting way to teach our youth and others the Spirit and meaning of Christmas? There are around 42 days each year from Advent to the Epiphany — of getting away from the world’s busyness and back into the calmness of our mangers — or was it a cave where Jesus was born? When man left the cave, he left God, I’d once heard. Not so, not so, if we return to the cave.

Your kindred Christmas shepherd