Most of us have some degree of tradition on how we celebrate the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. We gather with family, we go to events, we open gifts, we eat meals. All of these are great things, and fun parts of our holiday season...but none of them are the reason for the season. To use a tired but true cliché, “Jesus is the reason for the season”.
To hold our traditions loosely means that we don’t ever put the importance of the WAY we celebrate over the REASON we celebrate. We like to meet together and have our time with family and friends, but if we’re not able to, it doesn’t affect the fact that we have a great deal to be thankful for and Jesus’ incarnation at Christmas is still a miracle to be celebrated.
To quote the Grinch who tried to steal Christmas, “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “Doesn’t come from a store”. Similarly, let us remember that Christmas isn’t made by the traditions, but it is made by the promise of hope through Jesus Christ. Whether we celebrate that in the ways that we normally do or we celebrate it more simply at home this year, Jesus remains the same.