Keep Christmas

But when they find cards from any to whom they have not sent, then they beat their breasts and wail and utter curses against the sender; and, having sufficiently lamented their misfortune, they put on their boots again and go out into the fog and rain and buy a card for him also......For Exmas and the rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Christmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left.
-C.S. Lewis

Are you getting caught up in the bustle of Christmas? You might be getting this season backwards. You might be celebrating a completely separate consumer holiday that doesn't have anything to do with Jesus' birth.

C.S. Lewis wrote a couple of short articles about this that made me chuckle at his sarcasm because he wrote about the trap we all fall into (he calls it Exmas), and he wrote with clear annoyance at the whole consumerism craze of this season. He wrote about how we focus so much on getting gifts for people we barely know (like people in the office) and how we buy things for people that we would never buy for ourselves, but the shopkeepers are so good at presenting the item in a way that attracts sales because the shopkeepers have created this great scheme to begin with.

Lewis also writes with disdain about how crowded the shops get, and how much all the bustle stresses us out. But we must do it, right? Because there is a sense of obligation to buy gifts for everyone we have ever met. But where does this sense of obligation coming from?

Then, alas, we complete our shopping and can relax! Right? Well, the following day someone you forgot to buy a gift for gives you a gift! Oh no! Now you must drag yourself out into the cold and the crowds to buy something that person will never use....
All in the spirit of giving, right?

Oh, the joy of the season. 
Wait.
Are you experiencing the real joy of the season? Being able to do that means doing the opposite of what the world tells us to do. It involves stopping. Listening. Reading Scripture. Musing on the real joy that is through Jesus and what His coming here to earth really means for us.
Keep Christmas, not Exmas.