12/13/00
The Spiritual Chicks^SM Get Real!
Let's Put the Baby Back in Christmas

Christmas is a holiday that can be hard to love.  It starts too early (right after Halloween these days), requires too much work, costs too much money, and is gone in a flash.  The other night as I was muttering under my breath about how behind I was in my holiday duties, I looked over and saw Sophia, my 2 year-old daughter, playing peacefully with the nativity set my mom gave her a few weeks ago.  It’s an unusually nice set and just the right size for little hands.  "Mama," she said as she cuddled one of the little pieces to her cheek, "I love baby Jesus."  I didn’t know what to say.  For a split second I was scared that I might have a budding religious fanatic on my hands, then I looked at the clay baby’s face.  He was smiling so sweetly and lovingly; I could see why she had fallen for him.  What’s not to love about newborn babies?   They’re cute, cuddly and they’re the promise of the future.  Many secular Christians celebrate the winter solstice or put their focus on Santa Claus rather than go the religious route.  I understand why, but maybe we need to remember that a baby---and not a church---is the star of the traditional Christmas celebration. Babies represent new life.  They are born every single day in every season, even on days when there is more darkness than light.   They don’t care who wins the election or what dot coms will survive.  They respond to love, plain and simple.  Even Santa needs babies.  Who would he deliver presents to if not for these little children-to-be?   Thanks to Sophia, I’m putting the baby back in Christmas.  Now I just have to find a place in our apartment for the tree.

Tami

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