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Create a simple atmosphere for Christ this Advent
December 18, 2008
Current headlines read that Christmas sales will be at an all time low this year due to an economic recession. Add to this an increasing number of families struggling with unemployment and loss of income that will affect more than simply the number of presents under the tree.
By most measures, this would appear to be shaping up to be a pretty depressing Christmas. And yet, there exists an opportunity this year, more so than in years past, for the most wonderful Christmas since Tiny Tim said grace with Ebenezer Scrooge.
Taking advantage of the present housing market, my husband and I recently did what we swore only three years ago to never do again: move. Apparently suffering from short-term amnesia regarding the details involved with packing a home, we decided to relocate closer to church and family.
In addition to being nearer to those we love, our decision yielded another benefit that I discovered on moving day: my growing detachment to our excessive belongings. As the contents of our house rolled away in a jam-packed 26-foot moving truck, I honestly thought to myself that, barring any injury to the drivers, I wouldn’t have minded if that two-ton trinket-toting trailer of my material life blew up into smithereens.
Granted, I was tired of the boxes and packing tape, but even more, I was taken aback by how much we had accumulated over time. One week of living out of boxes quickly taught me how very little we really need, and the timing of Advent could not have been more perfect for such a revelation.
True meaning of Christmas
Our Christmas this year, due in part to maintenance expenditures on the older home we now own, will be simple. In fact, Advent itself began with far less extravagance than I usually afford it with my collection of nativity sets and related tchotchkes. Having been unable to locate the appropriate boxes of seasonal decorations in time, our family was left with only one option for celebrating the first week of Advent: a walk down to church where the décor and message of the season are simple, and quite different from the grocery store down the street.
Our two older children immediately ran to the parish “giving tree,” filled with tags requesting far less stuff than would fill a 26-foot truck. Personal hygiene items, and other small things that might help those less fortunate maintain their dignity this winter, were the focus of their little hearts, so hungry for the season’s meaning. They concluded, in this simple atmosphere, that if the meaning of Christmas is God’s greatest gift of His Son, then the least we could do was give of ourselves to others.
On our walk home, tags in hand, we decided that in addition to buying the small items requested, we would pray for Christ to become present to each of the persons receiving the items. We also decided that He needed to become as present in our own home as He was in our hearts at that moment.
So boxes were cleared away from atop the kitchen table and in their stead was placed our Advent wreath. Next to that — when we find the right box — will be our favorite set of little nativity figures, all staring at an empty manger and longing, like we are, for God to save us from our tendency to forget what is most important and show us again the greatest gift to which all others pale by comparison.
Mary Moore is a syndicated columnist who lives in Chandler. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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