Christmas is Coming

Yesterday I visited a local garden centre with a friend. We were astonished to discover that the first product section inside the door was of Christmas items. They even had a stack of Santa hats awaiting enthusiastic buyers. Needless to say, we didn't buy anything in that section!

I looked at my watch to confirm the date, and yes, it was still July, the 26th to be precise. The previous day was five months exactly before Christmas Day itself.

Now I don't know about you, but I haven't started worrying about Christmas yet. I have been doing some advance planning, but none of that has reached beyond the 28th of November, the first day of Advent.

Advent is the time of year that has traditionally been allocated as the preparatory season prior to the celebrations of Christmas itself. Four Sundays, plus however many days there will be after that until Christmas Day, which this year falls upon Saturday. That makes Advent 27 days long, one day short of the maximum possible.

Back in April I was pleased that I would have almost four months to prepare to move my home and my job 250 miles North, from Edinburgh to Tongue in Sutherland. Surely that is a larger task than the preparations for our annual celebration of the birth of Jesus. Some folk would say four months was far longer than necessary, and I would have to agree.

So why do our shops think that they need five months to sell us what we need for Christmas? Do they want us to celebrate Christmas early? If we only need the three to four weeks of the traditional Advent period to prepare for Christmas, does that mean we can now celebrate Christmas on 25th August?

After last year's wintry weather over the Christmas season, some folk might welcome the relocation of Christmas from December to August. Here in Scotland, school children might get an extra two weeks of holiday. On the other hand, most English schools are already on holiday until the end of August. They could just absorb the Christmas holiday into the summer holidays. December would then be free for the new-styled Winter Festival, without any complications caused by Jesus showing up on the scene.

Christmas Celebrations - are they only for December 25th, or should we be celebrating Christmas every week, either on Sunday mornings, or whatever other day suits our modern 24x7 society.

Jesus is not so much the reason for the season, as the season is for the reason. Jesus is with us 52 weeks of the year, so let's celebrate Christmas all year round - 60x60, 24x7, 30x12, 52x7, 365x24, forever!