Heart-In-Hand by Mary J. DuVal

Each Christmas, I find myself doing little reality checks with my heart, “Does it feel real yet? Can I feel what I am working towards is the celebration of Christ’s birth? Or have I yet again succumbed to the commercialism and culture that runs roughshod over my Christmas spirit?

When will that moment be that His birth feels special to my heart this year? I’m usually waiting expectantly and half the time, I’m pretty sure I’m not doing the right things to help it out. Sometimes it takes so long, I feel ashamed for being so far off track.

I know it won’t happen in the form of “Happy Holidays” or anything else that tries to smooth out the contours of a culture that feels it might be easier for everyone if the birth of the Christ child faded to the background during the holiday season instead of being its prominent feature. I think that’s a little of what scares me about people exchanging “Merry Christmas” in favor of “Happy Holidays” and “holiday tree” instead of “Christmas tree.” I feel like shouting, “People, a little help here, please! It’s already hard enough to keep His birth at the centerpiece of Christmas!”

This year it snuck up on me in the form of two greetings and one great kid. First, I received a greeting that said “Merry Christmas!” and then the person writing went on to say, “It feels so good to say that.” I had to pause, because I hadn’t thought of that before, but it really does feel good to say it; maybe because each year it feels we are closer to losing it if we aren’t intentional about using it. The second greeting was a reinforcement of the first because she wrote “Merry CHRISTmas” which gave me a connection with someone else who must feel the need to protect it too.

But what really opened my heart this Christmas was hearing that my great niece had rearranged her family nativity scene after it had been set out on display. She told her mom she had rearranged the original formation into what she claimed was “the way it should be.” As you can see in the photo, she didn’t leave much room for doubt as to where the focus should be.

Let’s keep it real: “Merry CHRISTmas”
The way it should be.