“It’s bad luck to have your Christmas Tree up after New Year’s Day.” What? Who says so? That superstition (which I never heard in my youth) must have been invented by some Scrooge-like adult who hated Christmas in the first place. I am a firm advocate of celebrating all twelve days of Christmas, December 25-January 5. That’s Christmas–the celebration of Christ Birth–which is different from the Winter- Holiday-Spending-Money-and-Going-to-Parties season which begins around Labor Day weekend and ends with the clearance sales on December 26.

These days bring back happy memories of Christmas with my family. My grandma Szlavik (my mother’s mother) had a favorite Christmas carol that she would sing in German “O du fröhliche.” In English it’s something like this:

O thou joyful, O thou blessed,
Grace-bringing Christmas time!
The world was lost, Christ is born:
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christendom!

What utter simplicity. The world was lost, Christ is born, rejoice.

Maybe that’s why I like those days between January 1 and 6. Nobody is playing “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” No one is trying to sell Santa Claus boxer shorts. The glitz is gone, the noise has died down, and at last the simple message can be heard and cherished. The world was lost, Christ is born, rejoice.

I hope everyone treasures these days of Christmas. Don’t collapse and sigh, “Well, that’s finally over.” Live these days with joy. Christ is born!

Read Philippians 2:5-11 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne