Sunday Soliloquy: We Need a Little Christmas

During our morning scripture study, Sarah and I were talking about fasting and why we need to do it at least once a month. After reading several verses and talking about personal experiences, we concluded that fasting is a kind of magnified, extended prayer. 

Prayer is something we do (or should do) every morning and every evening, and really any time. But when we fast, we humble ourselves a little more. Every rumble of our empty bellies is like a reminder to pray and think about why you're fasting and what you're asking of the Lord. Rather than pray in the morning and then forget to pray again until evening, our hunger reminds us all day to have a prayer in our hearts. 

Christmas is like fasting.

You know the song, "We Need a Little Christmas"? I used to find it so annoying, but now it's one of my favorites.

Here are the lyrics, in case you're unfamiliar with it:

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now.

For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute.
Candles in the window,
Carols at the spinet.
Yes we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute. 

It hasn't snowed a single flurry,
But Santa, dear, we're in a hurry. 

So climb down the chimney;
Put up the brightest string of lights I've ever seen.
Slice up the fruitcake;
It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough. 

For I've grown a little leaner,
Grown a little colder,
Grown a little sadder,
Grown a little older.
And I need a little angel
Sitting on my shoulder;
Need a little Christmas now!

It's a very cheerful melody. Very peppy. Which is why I never really liked it before--I tend to gravitate towards the somber, reverent Christmas songs.

But that last verse is as somber as they come even if the tune is upbeat, and it kind of encompasses everything I feel around the Christmas season. 

This week in Utah has been really sunny, but usually it's incredibly cold, cloudy, and miserable this time of year. Even though we now know Christ was born in April, I'm kind of glad Christmas is in December, because what better time for the most cheerful holiday of the year?

By December, we're looking back on the goals we didn't meet, the funds we failed to save up, the improvements we neglected this year. We're freezing and the days are short, which means less natural endorphins from sunlight. And the older we get, the less magical the world around us seems to be.

But then--Christmas! Christmas happens! And who cares that we fell short? Who cares that it's dark and cold and miserable? It's Christmas! 

We need Christmas to come around every year. It's not just a nice tradition; it's something as necessary for our yearly spiritual health as a fast is for our monthly spiritual health. We need it. 

Christmas means making an effort to connect with people. It means giving gifts to neighbors we've never met and to coworkers we don't get along with and to family members we may be disconnected from. 

It means that even when we've grown too old to believe in Santa Claus and flying reindeer, we can still think back on the magic and the wonder we used to feel. It means that we strive to feel it again, or at least help those around us feel it again or for the first time.

But most of all, Christmas means thinking about the Savior. Just as fasting is an extra push of prayer (which should be a daily habit), thinking of Christ should be something we do every day of the year, but the month of December gives us reminders at every turn. It's in our face wherever we go--in supermarkets and on the radio and in our homes. 

Christmas gives us that extra nudge to remember the greatest gift that God has ever given us--His beloved son, Jesus Christ.

One of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon is when Nephi is asking the angel about his father's vision of the Tree of Life. The angel shows Nephi the tree, and Nephi asks for an interpretation. 

The angel could have very easily just said, "Oh, it's God's love." Instead, the angel disappeared, and Nephi had a vision of his own.

And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white. 

And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou? 

And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins. 

And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God? 

And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. 

And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Song of God, after the manner of the flesh. 

And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! 

And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. 

And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? 

And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. 

And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul.

(1 Nephi 11: 13-23)

Nephi already knew that the Lord loves all His children. That was probably the most fundamental thing Nephi knew--the thing his "goodly parents" taught him his whole life. 

But then he saw the first Christmas, and he knew. 

God loves us. He didn't send His Beloved Son to be born of a virgin in a lowly manger just to show us a miracle--He did it so that His Son could grow up leading us by example, work miracles to give us hope and comfort, suffer for our sins, and conquer death. All for our sakes. 

God has given us countless blessings--so many that we probably don't even know about, let alone acknowledge. But His Son was the greatest gift of all--the light of the world. 

It's something we should remember every day of our lives, but Christmas gives us that extra little push--that constant reminder in the month of December that lifts our spirits and reminds us of the love God has for us all year round. 

So rather than get annoyed by people who clamor for "A little Christmas now," I'm going to try to appreciate every day of this month where everyone and everything around me reminds me of what I wish I remembered more during the rest of the year.

May we all feel God's love for us and for those around us as we celebrate this wonderful Christmas season. 

God bless us, every one.