Through the years I have spoken with plenty of people who rolled their eyes when asked about Christmas family gatherings. It was the quiet resignation to the far-from-perfect realities of Christmas. Others have essentially sought counseling for the strained family relationships which threatened to, Grinch-like, steal Christmas once again.
We probably all have a story of a Christmas nightmare because of travel challenges or meals that went terribly wrong. Many years ago Ruth, my wife, won a CBC radio contest for her story about our labrador retriever eating the Christmas Eve tourtiere. It was replaced by the ever-popular Christmas Eve pizza.
Who promised that families would be perfect, or anywhere close to it?. It would be nice if Christian families were magically ideal, or that Christmas would heal every wound. It's not quite the way it works. If anything, the unrealistic expectations goosed along by faith can leave us feeling defeated.
There is a reflection in the latest Christian Century magazine called God among the imperfect by Matt Fitzgerald in which he maintains that the holy family didn’t meet the ideal either:
It’s no coincidence that Christ was born into a shaky, uncertain family. God goes where he’s needed. Joseph and Mary find themselves trembling on December 24, not thumping their sweater-clad chests in a family photo. Joseph and Mary are confused, baffled, needy—and then they find God right in their laps. Right in the middle of their imperfection, as if their imperfection called out to him, “Come, we need you, come be born among us. http://www.christiancentury.org/article/2014-12/god-among-imperfect
This sounds real to me. It is important to forgive and forget and to demonstrate grace in this season, as we able. Then again, when aren't these qualities important?
Enjoy the day. Have a real and holy and Christ-blessed Christmas.
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