Christmas as it used to be

Christmas as it used to be

During the twenty years that we lived on the old original ranch things were pretty basic.  (See about Tri and Nancy)  Not only did we live without the convenience of electricity, but I was making somewhere around seven or eight hundred dollars a month as a school teacher; two hundred of which we had to put aside to cover the months I didn’t work during the summer break.  Needless to say there wasn’t a lot of extra cash lying around when it came time for Christmas each year.  Kate and Brook our two children were at the perfect age to make Christmas everything a young family dreamed it could be.  The mystery and anticipation of Christmas morning was at its absolute epicenter in their lives making those years vivid in all of our memories.  Because our life condition made consumerism impossible we were challenged every year to exercise a special kind of creativity to meet the excitement and expectation of the season.  Each year we would hike the mountain in search of a perfect tree to cut, dragging it home through the snow behind the kids pony.  It was a special tradition.  Nancy would work with the kids to make ornaments which were added to the ones from previous years.  It seemed like every ornament had a story and memory tied to it.  Weeks before the awaited day we would all sit in front of the fireplace stringing popcorn and cranberries on long decorative arrays.  The tree was always beautiful, in a Charley Brown sort of a way, leaving only one regret; we never could experience the luxury of Christmas tree lights.  The kids didn’t miss them as much as Nancy did simply because living without electricity they had never had them before.  One year however, while working on a school project I discovered with great delight that I could acquire small twelve volt lights used by hobby train enthusiasts.   Secretly I snuck several packages of them home.  Late one night I crudely wired them together in a long strand and hooked them up to a spare car battery.  I’ll never forget how such a seemingly small thing could bring such joy to our household.  Nothing was taken for granted and because of it everything new felt special.  Most of our Christmas presents in those days were constructed ether in my workshop or on Nancy’s treadle sewing machine, and yet I never remember any of us having felt short changed in any way.   I think that the feelings of entitlement that have subtly crept into our culture have robbed us from the richness that Americans once experience.  Affluence and the constant commercial pressure to buy manufactured goods has somehow cheapened and robbed the real magic of Christmas.   As we seriously pursue more sustainable lifestyles we’ve got to consider reevaluating our consumerist mentality and return once again to the things that bring true joy to our human spirit.  Christmas is about the richness of relationship.  It’s about our relationships with the ones we love, and the One who first loved us. (Read 1 John 4:19)

Also see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tri-robinson/conspiring-against-consum_b_152650.html