Dear Parishioners,

A friend of mine asked her friends when is the right time to start decorating for Christmas. Some people said, “Thanksgiving week.” Others said, “The day after Thanksgiving.” I however gave the least popular answer, “Eight days before Christmas.” Everyone was a little shocked at this answer. But, my reasoning is based on the liturgical year. The whole month before Christmas day is not the Christmas season. The season of Christmas are the weeks after Christmas day. Also, I said, “Eight days,” because those are the days immediately preparing for Christmas (known as the “O Antiphon days”). It makes sense to start decorating during that time.

We have Advent in order to prepare the way of the Lord. As Fulton Sheen once said, “Never forget that there are only two philosophies to rule your life: the one of the cross, which starts with the fast and ends with the feast. The other of Satan, which starts with the feast and ends with the headache.” We ought to take the season of Advent seriously because without it we cannot rest in the joy of Christmas.

The reason why the world celebrates Christmas so much earlier is not because of any holy reason either. We do it because shopping malls and department stores (and now online stores) know that the more they promote Christmas early, the more people will buy from them. And so, we end up getting a holiday creep so grave that this year it feels like Christmas began before Halloween. As a result, as soon as Christmas Day is over, many families tear down the decorations as if it is all over. But, for Catholics it is really just beginning.

Really we should keep our decorations up and celebrate this season until Epiphany, when the Magi visited the child Jesus. Traditionally, this holiday is celebrated on January 6 (hence the 12 days of Christmas). But, now we usually transfer it to the next Sunday. In the meantime, we should reflect on the mysteries of God’s presence, the Incarnation, the Holy Family, the hatred of Herod, the death of the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, the events that surround Jesus’s birth and his finding at the temple. There is a lot of theology in this season to reflect on for just one day.

Are you sick of Christmas and want to take everything done now? Maybe that’s a sign that you started too early. I hope that next year you really consider treating Advent seriously, making it like a little Lent. It’s when we make room for the joy of Christmas that we can really celebrate the birth of the Lord as it should be. For we celebrate His birthday for a season and not just a day.

God bless! And Merry Christmas!

Father Carter