I wonder what sort of Christmas you find yourself in - big or small, going hard or keeping small?
Hard to say what Christmas will be like this year. It has been a tough year in so many ways.
Christmas seems to tap into some deep heart-felt vision for life we all want. Most people who celebrate Christmas in Australia have no living connection to the community from which it comes. People of all faiths or no faith seem to find some connection to what Christmas has now become. It is no longer a specifically Christian festival of faith. Hasn't been for a generation or two. And yet, we seem to resonate with it as some kind of 'connection' time where we remember what's important in life and who is important in life.
So, after a year like this COVID year, I wonder what people will do this Christmas - really chase it, make it bigger than it normally is, pull out all the stops, go hard and put in the big effort in terms of food and trees and gifts and holidays family time or the opposite: stay fairly self-contained, take a minimalistic approach, just have a few people around, don't travel much, keep things a bit low key because we are used to that now.
Not surer what you are doing? Of course, for a lot of people, Christmas is not fun at all. There is deep conflict in the family. A loved one is no longer around to enjoy the season with. There never has been a partner around to share it with and so, it is quite lonely and blue.
At least in Australia and New Zealand we can celebrate Christmas sort of normally. I am thinking about the millions of people in the norther hemisphere winter who are right back into lock down, overflowing hospitals, people dying and living in tight restrictions. We will pause for a moment to remember them this Christmas. I heard that even the famous Christmas markets across Germany will be closed from 10 days before Christmas. This last happened in the WWII years.
Whatever you Christmas looks like, big or small, many or few, all stops out or in a slightly minor key, it is still Christmas and the original story speaks hope into our troubles and love into our relationships.