Christmas Past

It officially hit on December 15th.

It happens every year, but it feels like it hit especially early this year.

I’m talking, of course, about the phase of Advent that leaves me saying, “Let’s just talk about this next year.”

I don’t know what it was about this Advent season, but it feels like this was the sneakiest Christmas I’ve had in years. There are some Christmases where it seems like Advent started in mid-July and dragged on. This was not one of those Advents. Instead, this was the sort of Advent that by the time it ended it had still just begun. Honestly, it makes me feel a little bit sad that the “Most wonderful time of the year” was put on 1.5 speed.

I’m writing this post a week before Christmas, which I’m now realizing is more than a quarter of the Advent season left. So here’s what I want.

I want to listen to more Christmas music. There are so many songs that I love, but that I don’t get to hear enough. I want to hear at least ten different versions of, “Last Christmas,” which is a song that never gets old. There are plenty of songs that I’m already sick of that I know I’ll miss once January rolls around. I want to listen to those songs some more and remember that I will eventually miss them.

I want to drive around and see the lights that are decorating the houses in my neighborhood. Advent is a season when people seek to demonstrate beauty to their neighbors. It is a time when the lights remind us that we are together in the world. I want to see what sort of love that we can share with one another.

I want to watch more Christmas movies. Christmas movies create stamps of memory. They help us understand what Christmas might mean to us. They create a common language of celebration, bonding us in shared jokes, shared tears, and shared community narrative.

By the time you read this, I will have sped through the remainder of Advent. My hope is that I have accomplished those things I listed above. I want my Advent to slow down, and this post is a statement of purpose for myself to remember that I can still do so.

This coming week will be my Grinch week. It will be my Scrooge week. It will be the week where I step back and look at all of the amazing things that Christmas is and help me to recapture the feelings that I hope to encounter every Christmas. I am hoping that instead of fast forward, I can hit pause and take the time to absorb all of the wonderful things that Advent holds.

I hope you had a merry Christmas. I hope I had a merry Christmas. I look forward to catching up with you to hear all about your Christmas season, but I think it might be best if we just talk about that next year.

Peace,

Rev. Jeff Fox-Kline

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Advent may move quickly, but its meaning doesn’t disappear when the calendar turns. If you’re still holding onto a song, a moment of beauty, or a feeling you don’t want to lose, stay with it a little longer. And if you’re up for it, reach out! Let’s keep the conversation going as we carry Christmas with us into the new year. Twelve Corners Presbyterian Church is located at 1200 S. Winton Road, in the town of Brighton, NY. All are welcome here!