Wrapping Up Christmas


There are typically three movements with regard to planned human events: the anticipation of the occasion, the actual occasion, and the review of/reflection on the occasion.

The three movements of Christmas, we may say, are: the wrapping for Christmas, the unwrapping of Christmas, and the wrapping up of Christmas.
How quickly do you say goodbye to Christmas? How long do you linger?

I had to make some decisions this week with regard to the Christmas decorations in our sanctuary for this coming Sunday, which falls on New Year’s Eve day, December 31. Do the Advent banners stay or go? Do the camels, cows, and donkeys return to their stables; the hens, ducks, and geese to their nests?

With regard to “wrapping up Christmas,” a friend once advised, “You need to savor Christmas, even as you bid it adieu.”

Thus, this third phase of Christmas can be a time of savoring: as you remove the ornaments, beads, and lights from the tree; take down the Christmas wreaths; wrap up the candles and figurines; put away the Christmas CDs; send Santa and his reindeer back to their home at the North Pole.

Savoring Christmas in this way is not necessarily easy. Complex, difficult thoughts and feelings may be stirred as we say goodbye to Christmas. A trickle – or flood – of tears may come from our eyes. We don’t know, after all, what changes will have taken place in our personal lives, or even in our planetary life, when Christmas comes round again. Will Christmas come round again … for us … for our loved ones … for life on this planet? We don’t know for certain.

All the more reason, it seems to me, not to hurry through this time; but, instead, to savor this time of wrapping up Christmas for another year.

Rev. Bruce Bode