This last Sunday, I led a discussion in Sunday School about how weird a holiday Christmas is: it started out as a pagan holiday with major connections to fertility rites, Santa is an amalgam of Saint Nicolas and Odin, and anything that is in connection to Christianity is an add on. In spite of all of this, Christmas is still an important holiday. My big question was: Why? The following discussion was a delightful mix of members sharing their beliefs and their traditions and how this is the one time of year that we get to share with the rest of the world that we are Christians without getting too much flack.
It was a great discussion (I don't want to call it a lesson since it wouldn't have worked if I was the only one that talked) and I think what made it work was how much everyone felt invested in what we were talking about by sharing personal stories.
I've not always had the best relationship with Christmas, especially as a teen and young adult since there was so much work associated with the season, either with choir or retail work. However, I see that the season is important, whether we celebrate it by having a visit from Santa or by baking cookies for our neighbors. The holiday is about families and togetherness and worshiping the Savior and it's one of the few times that we get to do with the rest of the world.
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