The impending holiday has me in an interesting sort of mood. I was reading some past blogs from around the Christmas season and thinking about how things have changed. Two years ago I was actually kind of grumpy about the whole thing. The decorations, the insanity of the retail world, the holiday songs on the radio. The fact that everywhere you go it's "Season's Greetings" and "Happy Holidays" and nowhere do you see mention of Christmas, even though that's the holiday that the majority of people are purportedly celebrating. Those things sort of still irk me, but I suppose it's not so much that they irk me, more that they make me sort of sad, because it seems that most of the people around me are just missing the point.
I think it was last year that the seasons of the Church year finally, really set in for me. Last year was when I realized for the first time, that Christmas is not just a day, it's a season -- a season that BEGINS on December 25. That little epiphany has completely changed my view of this time of the year. Suddenly I understand what Advent is all about. I guess that is what I find sad: that for the secular world, the day after Christmas is the end of the celebration, the end of all the fun, and time to gear up and make sacrifices and self-improvements for a new year.
It's funny isn't it, how completely backwards they have it. For the Church, our new [liturgical] year began this past Sunday, the first day of Advent. And the beginning of a new year IS a time to make sacrifices and self-improvements. These four weeks of Advent are a meant to be a time of waiting and preparation, a solemn and penitential time to get ourselves ready for the coming of our Savior. It's sort of like a smaller version of Lent. But up until this year, I never thought of it this way before.
Now that Thanksgiving is over, "Christmas" is out in full force everywhere you go. People's homes are decorated, trees are up, Santa and reindeer and lights everywhere you look. And that's okay, really. But I'm not into it, yet. If I had an Advent wreath, that would be my only decoration out right now. I may put up the Christmas tree next week, but leave it undecorated. Or if I'm feeling very ambitious, maybe I'll turn it into a Jesse Tree, until Christmas. I finally understand the tradition of decorating the tree on Christmas Eve, something which never made sense to me before.
There are other things going on during this season that I never realized before, too. For example, St. Nicholas Day is actually on December 6, so maybe we should hang our stockings out that day instead. December 8 is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which this year will also be the Rite of Acceptance for all our new catechumens. I'm excited for that, and excited for them. We have a small bunch this year, but they're great.
I guess this year, more than others, I am just taking a step back from the hustle and bustle of the world around me. I already knew that Jesus is the reason for the season. Now I also have a better idea of what season we're actually in right now.