Katrick: Not to early to plan for Advent, Christmas
Here’s an open-ended question for you. What usually happens this time of the year? I believe that most of you would say, “The leaves on trees begin to turn many bright and beautiful colors.”
My answer to this question involves trees of the artificial kind. With summer barely over, coming soon to your favorite shopping places and virtual spaces is Christmas! And let me be one of the first to say that there are only 92 shopping days until December 25th, so you’d better get moving!
You might even see the first showings of A Christmas Story on one of your kazillion cable TV channels. If you haven’t watched the movie lately (like last Christmas Day when it is telecast non-stop), here’s a refresher with this briefest of story lines.
In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie Parker attempts to convince his parents, teachers and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder Range 200 Shot BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift. (imdb.com)
Is it coming back to you now? Okay. Let’s say right along with them, their response to Ralphie, the movie’s most memorable and repeatable line. “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid!”
When I was Ralphie’s age, I never asked for a BB gun. But I did get a squirt gun that streamed 30 feet of H2O. And I was a force to be reckoned with during water fights.
Just in case you’re wondering, I didn’t shoot my eye out with it. But recently, I almost shot out a contact lens with my water pick. Surely it must have been the quality of the product and not operator error. So I decided to start making out a “way too early” Christmas list for the Santa that works at Amazon.com, asking for a new device.
You may ask, “But wasn’t it you who pushed the on/off switch before the mode switch, and for some unexplained reason pointed the wand directly at you face?” You’ve made a good point there. Maybe I do need to be more attentive to the instruction manual, no matter what kind of device I’m using.
And maybe I need to celebrate the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year” the way we used to; by not shopping for others or myself before Thanksgiving; by not putting up lights or a tree before the first Sunday in Advent; and by not taking anything down or putting it away before the First Sunday in Epiphany.
The child in me still wants to make Christmas last and last, at the right time and for the right reasons. And the most important reason of all, written down in Isaiah 9:6, is not confined to any one season.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
So here’s another open-ended question for you. How and when and for what reasons, will you celebrate the Advent and Christmas seasons?
Mark Katrick is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a certified spiritual director.
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Katrick: Not to early to plan for Advent, Christmas
