Santa Claus and Empty Boxes
by Tammie Jenks-Caffee
Whether one ushers in Christmas with a man in a red suit or a baby in a manger, we find ourselves wrapped in the season celebrating traditions that we often do not know the origin of. Regardless, we immerse ourselves in the festivities with all its stress, commercialization, chaos, and activity-filled calendars.
At times we can be a bit like Ebeneezer Scrooge; at other times, we are Tiny Tim. We are Grinch personified or little Cindy Lou. "God bless us, every one," as we navigate the season from Thanksgiving Eve to December 25, where we ultimately discover ourselves standing amidst the crumpled paper and simple, empty brown boxes. Even the youngest among us eventually sets them aside, disinterested in the imaginary play that often captured their attention for a longer period than the gifts found within.
“Whether one ushers in Christmas with a man in a red suit or a baby in a manger, we find ourselves wrapped in the season celebrating traditions that we often do not know the origin of.”
The Festivities
The house quiets, and we remain in the aftermath of the scene, rarely giving the holiday another thought except to busy ourselves with removing the remaining rubbish. Funny how, even as I ponder the season of Christmas, I reduce something meant to be so meaningful to something so trivial. I understand how that happens, though…that feeling of nothingness, a poverty of spirit invading so many during a season that should be rich with family, with giving, with hope. That poverty lies in wait, just under the surface, holding tightly to hearts and minds everywhere. Is the commercialization to blame? Is it how the dynamics of our families change from year to year? Is it the race we enter to get everything done, to complete every task to perfection only to find ourselves wrapped in disappointment? Do the words, For unto us a child is born or Twas the night before Christmas, herald in the season? Is it all of these, or is it something else entirely different? The answers to those questions are as individual as the hearts contemplating them.
A juxtaposition to what lies within those hearts is the Christmas tree standing prominently in homes everywhere with its glittering bulbs, shining lights, and brightly wrapped packages adorning its skirt. That tree and all that it symbolizes comes from the traditions of an earlier, simpler time in the United States. Before that, it arose out of Roman celebrations having nothing to do with Christmas or the birth of Christ, eventually traveling to Germany and England before arriving on our shores to adorn our homes at Christmas.
Santa. Image courtesy of Alicia Slough on Unsplash.
Santa!
Then there is Santa Claus. From childhood stories to the media and advertising of the twentieth century, he arrives in his red suit, big belly, white beard, and a bag full of gifts transported on a sleigh equipped with bells and propelled through the air by flying reindeer. It seems that whether we have been good or bad, Santa arrives, nonetheless. He comes each year during the Christmas season, appearing from the folklore of old and differing cultural interpretations the world over. Few realize, or perhaps they have merely forgotten, the Santa Claus of today, the man born out of legends, was an authentic and real man who served God.
Nicholas was born to wealthy parents, and though they died when he was young, they instilled in the boy a heart for God. His life exemplified the words of Jesus who said,
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. [1]
Doing precisely that, Nicholas used his significant inheritance to help those in need. Persecuted for his Christian beliefs, he was imprisoned and exiled. Undaunted, he remained faithful, always choosing Jesus over the world. It is not difficult to imagine that this Nicholas carried upon his back a bag bursting not only with the material gifts he chose to give to the poor, the helpless, the meek, and the suffering but also the fruit of the Spirit that is "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" [2] he shared with the world.
The stories of Nicholas abound. In particular, one tells of three young women born into poverty who, with no prospects of marriage because their father could not provide a dowry, would be sold into slavery. It is said that because of Nicholas' kind and generous spirit, these women were saved from a life of misery and despair. [3] Having nothing to do with our bank accounts' size, the spirit of poverty touches us all. Misery and despair, be they internal or external, seem commonplace in our world today.
The manger. Image courtesy of Greyson Joralemon on Unsplash.
I wonder how things might change both inside and outside of Christmas if we, like Nicholas,
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven….And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.[4]
Would others discover Christmas as the season of hope, a celebration of God's gift to the world—a baby born in a stable to become His Son crucified, the resurrected Redeemer of the world—Jesus, the one who stands with us in the barren, meaningless spaces of our lives filling us "with an indescribable and glorious joy"? [5]
works cited
Resources
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