One Woman's View: Where's the ladder?
Some friends in my community are a host family for an exchange student from Ukraine. When they all went to church the first Sunday in Advent, their guest looked around in near disbelief and asked, "Where's the ladder?" Nobody knew what she was talking about. She explained that in her homeland a ladder was erected in the churchyard December 1 with a figure of the Baby Jesus at the top. The figure is moved down a rung each day until He reaches the earth on Christmas Day. Although her hosts and their friends had never heard of such a custom, the tradition was an important part of Christmas to her friends and neighbors in Ukraine.
Although the specific traditions vary from nation to nation, family to family and even person to person, Christmas traditions are important to almost everybody. How many times have you heard someone say, "It just wouldn't be Christmas without a star at the top of the tree, or peppernuts, or dinner at Grandma's"? You fill in the blank.
Traditions can add much joy to the Christmas season. Like many things in life, your own traditions seem important and meaningful, while someone else's traditions may seem foolish or trivial. If a tradition helps point your soul toward God or helps you carry God's love to others, it is probably good for you, whether or not it is meaningful to others. If a tradition tangles you up in hectic activity which takes your focus off Jesus and His arrival on earth, then you need to reexamine it.
Some of the best traditions are those which carry Christmas joy to others. For several years now my husband and I have been among the beneficiaries of one such tradition. The youth of Morning Star Church north of Durham invite as many of the community's elderly people as they can fit into the community building to a friendship supper early in the Christmas season. They put a lot of effort into decorating the hall and preparing a delicious meal. Then they give a program of Christmas music and perhaps a poem or two. Coming early in the season, this event ignites the Christmas spirit in all of us. If you ask the young people why they are willing to spend all that time and effort, they will probably tell you, "Because we love to do it."
Trying to bring joy to others can warm your own heart as well. Years ago a friend shared one of her holiday traditions in her Christmas letter, and I adopted it as my own. She called it the surprise gift. The idea is to give at least one gift which will be a total surprise to the receiver. Naturally that means that person will not be giving you anything. In doing this you experience the blessing of true giving, rather than "exchanging gifts," a deplorable phrase.
Other traditions are good, because they help build good memories. I know a family in which each child received a tree ornament in his/her stocking every year. When they decorated the tree, the children enjoyed hanging their own ornaments. As they grew up and established homes of their own, their mother boxed up each child's ornaments for the young couple's first Christmas together. I think this a charming tradition, and I'm sure the children do.
Clinging to tradition can sometimes keep us from making sensible changes in the holiday routine. I have a friend who used to haul her children to one set of grandparents for Christmas dinner and the other for Christmas supper. By the end of the day the principle Christmas feeling was sheer exhaustion. Some in our church believe it is carved in stone somewhere that the church children's program positively must be on Christmas Eve. Since some families use the school vacation to go visit relatives and usually a few children spend the holiday with a non-custodial parent, many of the children for whom the event is intended are usually absent. These are situations in which it might make sense to rethink the traditions.
Traditions are not one-size-fits-all. For many people baking dozens of cookies, fruit cakes, or plum pudding is a very special part of the season. Because it sounds so homey, I used to try to do a lot of Christmas baking. All too soon it began turning into an irksome duty, rather than a pleasure. I do not think Jesus wants us to greet His birth with clenched teeth and grim determination. So I finally recognized that this is somebody else's tradition. Sometimes I make a few cookies if I'm in the mood, but I have removed it from the list of things I have to get done.
In fact, almost nothing is on my list of things that must get done. Christmas will come without any effort on my part, and it will bring joy to my heart if I invite it in. Granted, there are things I very much want to get done, but they are not necessary to Christmas. Enjoy whatever traditions fill your heart with love and peace at this holy season. However, if you find yourself thinking, "It just wouldn't be Christmas without
