Why Now, More Than Ever, We Are Ready For Christmas

by Sully and Laura Curtin

It is usually a rule at our house, no Christmas music, no Christmas tree, no Christmas movies until after Thanksgiving. We broke the rule this year. Balsam and cedar scented candles have been burning, the Christmas tree has been up, and 70 feet of tiny white lights have adorned our apartment for weeks. When we are not plunking out Christmas carols on the piano, our Alexa has us covered playing nonstop Christmas playlists from Spotify. 

We love Christmas music and decorations—I mean, what is there not to like? Across the country, many families, just like us, broke their “no Christmas before Thanksgiving” rule, eagerly anticipating the Christmas season. We can safely assume that now, more than ever, we are ready for Christmas.

There are probably a few reasons why we were so eager to hang our stockings and drink hot chocolate this year. For starters, we have spent so much time at home, it's nice to mix it up and add some twinkly lights and ornaments to it. 

But we want to suggest there might be a deeper longing revealed by our eagerness to drape everything in garland. 

The struggles of 2020 have caused us to see the world in a different light. Everyday activities have changed. There are a million things we must remember when doing simple things like going to the grocery store or taking our kids to the park. Do we have our masks? Hand sanitizer? Do not touch anything unnecessary. Resist at all costs any coughs or sneezes in public. What once was familiar and easy has become disorienting and difficult. 

We live in a comparably small urban dwelling because we love the city and what she has to offer—public transit, amazing restaurants, closeness to friends, work, culture—and that’s been stripped from us this year. What’s left is four small walls, closing in day by day as we work and live at home with the fear or frustration of sickness, racial injustices, political disunity, and longings for things to go back to a normal we can no longer picture moving forward. 

It is tempting to hope this Christmas season will be the cure for the past 8 months of pandemic inflicted loneliness and unmet expectations. Many this Christmas will use familiar wreaths and Christmas baking to cover up the disorienting experiences of 2020.  Any attempt to mask the hurt and pain of 2020 will be like putting makeup on a pig. It just won’t work.

Alternatively, all of the changes this last year might make us look at the familiar traditions and customs of Christmas slightly differently this year. We may not see any of the family and friends we normally see this time of year. We will not be attending any Christmas concerts, and worst of all, the Christkindlmarket won’t be opening this year. 

All this change might actually give us fresh eyes to remember what this season means and what it is meant to do to us. In the church, the season leading up to Christmas is called Advent. It is a season in which we celebrate the coming of Christ and sit expectantly for His return. 

Returning to the Christmas story each year makes it familiar, like the sound of our furnace which drones on without us even realizing it is working. What Advent should do is dust off the familiarity of the Christmas story and rattle us into amazement and adoration of Christ. We are called to remember and reflect on the significance of Christ’s first coming and prepare for his second coming.

Christmas is about hope, love, light, peace, and purity. The miracle of the incarnation means the God of the universe has entered the world to disrupt and to end the cycle of death and disease. Christmas is a celebration of the gospel—the good news that the remedy to our sin and sickness has come. 

Let this Advent and Christmas not be a poorly made-up mask to disguise the hardship you are experiencing. But with fresh eyes and ears, plus the desperation for hope and familiarity, hear the story of Christmas and Christ as the greatest story ever told (Luke 2:1-38).

It is the greatest story ever told not because of the metaphors or turn of phrases, but because this story really happened. God entered our pain and pointlessness with a mission to rescue and redeem. 

Christmas is not meant to distract us for a few moments from the real struggles of our lives but is to give us real hope. The gospel offers us real hope that does not simply come and go like the thrill of receiving a gift. It lasts beyond December 25th. It is a hope that is meant to be with us through every trial and challenge.

This Christmas, look the darkness—loneliness, unmet expectations, infertility, illness, racial injustices—straight in the face knowing the Light of the World has entered it, and one day it will fully and finally vanquish the dark. 

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Come, Lord, soon. 

Sully and Laura Curtin both work at Holy Trinity Church. Sully serves as the Executive Pastor and Laura as the Executive Assistant to the Senior Pastor. They live in Wicker Park with their son, Callaghan, and daughter, Kennedy.