Merry Kwaanzannakuh!!!

Happy Holiday madness is over thank goodness!! While this season brought joy to lots and lots of people (mostly under 4 feet tall), it will have to go on record as creating the biggest tempest in a teapot known since the birth of Jesus. I had a classmate of mine send me a trivia quiz on what exactly the Bible says about Jesus and the Nativity that we love to celebrate and sing about. I figured that being such a "know-it-all" I'd score big. I made an embarrassing 75. What I found out is that the Bible is silent on so much of the symbols we take for granted that you'd hardly recognize the event without Madison Avenue. For instance, one question listed several animals and asked which ones were present when Jesus was born. Technically, the Bible doesn't mention any animals. How many Wise Men came to worship? Technically, the Bible doesn't mention any number either, just three gifts. See? A friend of mine mentioned that we must have gotten our doctrine from Christmas carols!! I tend to agree.
I also read a little book about Christmas traditions that states the celebration of Christmas as we know it is actually only a little over 100-150 years old. Family get-togethers and such were introduced into England when Queen Victoria married her German cousin, Prince Albert, who brought his holiday traditions with him. As the English watched the Royals celebrate, they began to adopt the customs into their own culture. The Puritans strictly forbade celebration and punished anyone they caught doing so. Not until "The Night Before Christmas" was written did Christmas as we know it kick into high gear. Now, this is a really brief "Readers Digest" version of the information. But you get the point. Whether celebrated religiously or secularly, this Christmas is a fairly recent phenomenon in history.
So, I come to the main point. Christmas is a heart and soul affair. It doesn't much matter what you say or what you sing. If Jesus isn't the "reason for the season", this whole 6 week period is just a nice way to eat to much and go deeper in debt. I can write Merry Xmas knowing that "X" was the early Christian symbol for Christ and not an attempt to "take Christ out of Christmas." The phrases, "Merry Christmas," "Season's Greetings," and "Happy Holidays" have been staples of our communications for years. Again, it's not what comes out of your mouth but out of your heart that gives meaning to Christmas. If He's not in your heart, He's not in your holidays!