My own Christmas query

How have I followed the general Quaker principle that Christmas is just like other days?

In a general sense, this is about not getting sucked into the massive commercialism of the season. I would be better at this if I didn't have ten children. I find it virtually impossible not to get sucked into the cultural mandate to have a tree, put lights out, spend a lot of money (this year on Amazon), wake up the kids and have a family experience.

 So in that sense, we're like every other family. We don't send our kids back to school saying "we really didn't do anything for Christmas' - I would find this very difficult. I find it difficult basically because I live through them vicariously and care a lot how they represent it to their friends.

In one sense I see it like a Quaker - it's no different than other days; one should live a holy life every day; one should not place symbolic meaning onto things (Jesus' birth, etc.), even the tree, or the star. Yet without investing in the symbolism, we do do a lot of these things. We even light the way, with paper sacks and sand and candles - this is the only one that I even vaguely feel symbolic about. We are lighting the way for the baby Jesus. And if the candlelit bags come back up to my house with soft light in the deep woods (almost nobody comes out to our road, although this year the delivery truck came up just as I'd finished) - well then, it's all about feeling.

I have very mixed feelings about the whole thing. Enjoy the queries below (next post). We should all think about the degree we get drawn in to the general cultural symbolism and commercialism that are rampant this time of year. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not purely "quaker" about it. We have a tree. We have kids. We have excitement. The only ones for whom this is like any other day, are the pets. They continue to adore us, no matter what we do.