Christmas Journey: It's Over... Or Maybe Not

Another year has come and gone. The older I get, the less the years seem to last. I feel like I was just ringing in 2015 yesterday and here we are welcoming 2016.

I always feel sad on the last day of the year. In part is because I know the Christmas holidays are almost over and I don't look forward to putting away the decorations. I also enjoy having a full house and once Christmas is over, everyone returns to their routines, the out-of-towners go back home and both the house and my heart feel empty. But this year, on Christmas mass, the church played a video that made me put it into perspective. The video shows a sad old man carrying the dry Christmas tree to the dumpster. It talks about the feelings of sadness we all experience once Christmas is over. As the old man is ready to go back home, he finds a Nativity ornament laying on the back of his pickup truck, where he had just removed the Christmas tree. He takes the ornament and hangs it from the rearview mirror. The message is that Christmas doesn't end. Jesus remains in our hearts and in our homes. It's up to us to make room for Him all year round. It doesn't need to be a once a year occurrence.

If we enjoy having the family over for Christmas, why wait a year to have them over again? Who says we can only roast a pig on Christmas Eve? And it doesn't even have to be a pig. We can invite our family and friends over any day. We can cook whatever we want or we can order take out. The point is to get together and celebrate life for no other reason than the joy we feel when we are together. And who says that those that live out of town can only come to visit on Christmas or Thanksgiving? And if they can't come, maybe we can go and visit them. And if we enjoy Christmas movies and Christmas music, we don't need to wait until next December to watch those movies or listen to the music. Nowadays when we can record all our favorite TV shows, we can also record a few Hallmark channel Christmas movies and watch them whenever we feel nostalgic. And "Jingle Bells" sound just as pretty in July as it does in December.

The Nativity doesn't need to be put away. We can display it year-round if we feel like it. I see houses that don't remove their Christmas lights at all. I think they do it mostly because they don't want to go through the trouble of taking them down, but if you are in the mood to light up your house in February, go ahead. Who cares what the neighbors think?

And the most important thing of all, is that we received a special gift of love on Christmas. We can return the gift, the same way we are returning many unwanted gifts to the stores. We can put the gift away in a closet and forget about it until next Christmas. Or we can embrace the gift and let the Love light up our hearts all year long. Let's not to send Jesus in exile the way that Herod did 2,015 years ago. Let's make room in our hearts and in our homes so He can remain with us all year. Love doesn't have to be part of our homes only on Christmas. Love was born on Christmas but it remains forever.

May 2016 be filled with peace, love, angels and Jesus. God bless you all.