Christmas is in two days and my familyand I, despite not having entered a church in over five years, will once again celebrate the birth of Jesus. There will be a tree (once we get around to getting one); there will be nice meals; there will be lots of lights, decorations, and a trainset. There will also be cleaning, so as to make the house spotless for when our relatives arrive tomorrow. All together, the amount of time we will spend on celebrating (and preparing for the celebration of) the birth of someone we could, in all honesty, care less about will probably be more time than I've spent in English class this month.
My question for all of you is, why? Why do we continue to do something so stressful and time consuming? Is it simply for the sake of tradition? Or do we enjoy it enough that all the work is worth it? Or is there another factor at play? Thoughts?
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-Bryce Cody
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is for the sake of tradition. Perhaps it gives some sense of spiritual fulfillment. I can't say which applies to your family, but I'm sure we could all find examples of each.
ReplyDelete-Colin
I think it's definately for tradition, but it could also just be because, as humans in general, we are always looking for ways to have parties, celebrate, and give gifts.
ReplyDelete-Audrey
This year we celebrated Christmas with the Jewish side of my family (I'm half Jewish, half Catholic). There was no Christmas tree, no ham, or anything red and green.But my grandmother made a special meal, and we had a big celebration (of what, I'm not sure). Despite the lack of Christmas things, it was still a great way to spend Christmas because I got to see my family whom I haven't seen in a while. I think that is the point of the holidays. We, at least most of us, don't celebrate because of Jesus' birth because we care about him, but because we enjoy celebrating. We enjoy seeing our family again, making good food, exchanging gifts, and the whole holiday spirit, no matter what it is we are celebrating.
ReplyDelete~Becca