Keeping the CHRIST in CHRISTmas!

I got this  booklet from our church this week that has several "reminders" of how to keep Christ at the center of your CHRISTmas season.  I remember picking it up and making the joke, "Like I don't have enough to do these days"....Then, today, I actually sat down to read through it.  I was really impressed with some of the things in there!  And, guess what?  There was an entire 2 pages dedicated to being "Too Busy".  The definition of BUSY?


B-Being
U-Under
S-Satan's
Y-Yoke


Umm..Yikes, no thank you.  So, I decided, I'm not too busy really let Jesus be a part of my Christmas season in every way possible. 

This was also one of my favorite parts, telling what the Christian significance is in these "Christmas" symbols:


Candy Cane:  In the shape of a shepherd's crook, we are reminded that it was humble shepherds who first saw Jesus and He is the Good Shepherd.  The red is symbolic of His blood, the white is the purity of His sinless life, and the three stripes represent the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).  Turned upside down, the candy cane is simply a "J" for Jesus.


Manger:  The manger represents the human heart.  Just as there was "no room" for Jesus in the Inn, we too can be so busy that we have no room for Jesus in our lives.  This Christmas slow down and prepare Him room in your heart.


Santa Claus:  Is the North American version of Saint Nicholas.  In sum, Saint Nick was a wonderful man who loved and served Jesus faithfully. So, we gladly include him in our Christmas traditions to remind us of what it looks like for someone to live a life of devotion to Jesus Christ.


I read this in another article, and thought it was interesting:

The Truth about Santa Claus

The larger-than-life myths surrounding Santa Claus actually emanate from the very real person of Saint Nicholas. It is difficult to know the exact details of his life with certainty, as the ancient records are sparse, but the various pieces can be put together as a mosaic of his life.

A Gift-Giver

Nicholas was born in the third century in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey. He was born into an affluent family, but his parents died tragically when he was quite young. His parents had raised him to be a devout Christian, which led him to spend his great inheritance on helping the poor, especially children. He was known to frequently give gifts to children, sometimes even hanging socks filled with treats and presents.

Perhaps his most famous act of kindness was helping three sisters. Because their family was too poor to pay for their wedding dowry, three young Christian women were facing a life of prostitution until Nicholas paid their dowry, thereby saving them from a horrible life of slavery.

A Bishop and Saint

Nicholas grew to be a well-loved Christian leader and was eventually voted the Bishop of Myra, a port city that the apostle Paul had previously visited (Acts 27:5-6). Nicholas reportedly also traveled to the legendary Council of Nicaea, where he helped defend the deity of Jesus Christ in A.D. 325.

Following his death on December 6, 343, he was canonized as a saint. The anniversary of his death became the St. Nicholas holiday when gifts were given in his memory. He remained a very popular saint among Catholic and Orthodox Christians, with some two thousand churches named after him. The holiday in his honor eventually merged with Christmas, since they were celebrated within weeks of one another.

Misnomer

During the Reformation, however, Nicholas fell out of favor with Protestants, who did not approve of canonizing certain people as saints and venerating them with holidays. His holiday was not celebrated in any Protestant country except Holland, where his legend as Sinterklass lived on. In Germany, Martin Luther replaced him with the Christ child as the object of holiday celebration, or, in German, Christkindl. Over time, the celebration of the Christ child was simply pronounced Kris Kringle and oddly became just another name for Santa Claus.

Folklore

The legends about Santa Claus are most likely a compilation of other folklore. For example, there was a myth in Nicholas' day that a demon was entering people's homes to terrorize children and that Nicholas cast it out of a home. This myth may explain why it was eventually believed that he came down people's chimneys.

Also, there was a Siberian myth (near the North Pole) that a holy man, or shaman, entered people's homes through their chimneys to leave them mushrooms as gifts. According to the legend, he would hang them in front of the fire to dry. Reindeer would reportedly eat them and become intoxicated. This may have started the myth that the reindeer could fly, as it was believed that the shaman could also fly. This myth may have merged with the Santa Claus myth, and if so, explains him traveling from the North Pole to slide down chimneys and leave presents on fireplace mantles before flying away with reindeer.

These stories of Santa Claus were first brought to America by Dutch immigrants. In the early twentieth century, stores began having Santa Claus present for children during the Christmas season. Children also began sending letters to the North Pole as the legends surrounding an otherwise simple Christian man grew.