Every December my family has a tradition of watching the classic Christmas specials that air on TV. The good old-fashioned Christmas movies that our parents grew up with, like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman. One of my favorites is Charlie Brown...I love that depressed little round-headed guy and his pathetic little tree.
My Dad and I still laugh at classic lines like "Nobody sent me a Christmas card today. I almost wish there weren't a holiday season. I know nobody likes me. Why do we have to have a holiday season to emphasize it?" or "Ugh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some Iodine!"
My favorite part of it is that I think there is a little Charlie Brown in all of us... I know I get frustrated by the commercialism of the holiday. Everybody seems to use Christmas as just another angle of advertising. The other day I saw that even a health care add was using a gingerbread man missing an arm on their billboard. All the advertising, Santa Clause, and buying STUFF just seems to cheapen the holiday for me - it's just another season for the stores to make money. But oh people are generous at Christmas - all that peace on earth good will to men...but why just this time of year??!!! Sometimes I just want to stand in the middle of the Mall and yell like Charlie "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" The answer he gets to that exclamation is why I love that movie...Christmas is a celebration of God's love for fallen, messed up, humanity that so often fails to even acknowledge His existence. JOY to the World!
My Dad and I still laugh at classic lines like "Nobody sent me a Christmas card today. I almost wish there weren't a holiday season. I know nobody likes me. Why do we have to have a holiday season to emphasize it?" or "Ugh! I've been kissed by a dog! I have dog germs! Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some Iodine!"
My favorite part of it is that I think there is a little Charlie Brown in all of us... I know I get frustrated by the commercialism of the holiday. Everybody seems to use Christmas as just another angle of advertising. The other day I saw that even a health care add was using a gingerbread man missing an arm on their billboard. All the advertising, Santa Clause, and buying STUFF just seems to cheapen the holiday for me - it's just another season for the stores to make money. But oh people are generous at Christmas - all that peace on earth good will to men...but why just this time of year??!!! Sometimes I just want to stand in the middle of the Mall and yell like Charlie "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?" The answer he gets to that exclamation is why I love that movie...Christmas is a celebration of God's love for fallen, messed up, humanity that so often fails to even acknowledge His existence. JOY to the World!
We can be saved and have a relationship with the eternal, uncreated God of the universe because He wanted us so badly that He would humble and limit Himself and become one of us. How amazing is that?
