Making Christmas, Making Christmas!

December 1st and so it begins... To some it truly is The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Last year at this time I was putting together 150 Christmas boxes at the office.  Shredded cardboard was all over the conference room and crinkle cut stuffing was flying about as red and green dust began to fill the air!  It was the job nobody wanted to do, but still the office felt obligated to do up special Christmas boxes each year.  Although they could have done something as simple as gift cards or a small bonus, they insisted on these frilly boxes and I totally loved every minute of it!  Because I cared about sharing something with these people to thank them for a job well done and wish them a Merry Christmas.  What's so bad about spending a few hours making mountains move (seriously, I was lost in mountains of gift boxes!) and listening to my favorite Christmas music?  This was totally my theme song!
Making Christmas - Nightmare Revisited

Rise Against
Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorite movies and I have to watch it every year.  Jack, the King of Halloween grows restless, looking for something  more.  One day while wandering in the woods he finds Christmas land.  Curious about the joy and wonder he finds he brings all sort of things home trying to get down to the bottom of this thing called Christmas.  Why was it so magical?  What was it all about?  After kidnapping Santa and making a complete nightmare out of Christmas, Jack never really understands the meaning of Christmas because he spent all his time analyzing the "things of Christmas."

The Corner Critic's review of the movie said, "It is a carefully crafted satire against the blandness of traditional holidays, about how their meanings become diluted to the point of nonexistence."

Tim Burton was inspired to write this story after finding himself in a holiday display at a department store. "Christmas decorations were being combined with Halloween decorations – that was the genesis of the whole concept. So routine are our holidays that department stores almost cannot wait to decorate for them."

And don't forget the Christmas Music! Our family gets a kick out of Straight No Chaser's hit song The Christmas Can Can... because after just a few errands, you've heard them all! And just as Tim Burton discovered the typical store really can become The Nightmare Before Christmas!

The movie is a commentary on how our culture robs symbols of their meaning and mixes them together until they serve a different purpose all together.  And every year I notice more and more traditions that just clutter up Christmas and are really more about fueling consumerism.
 
And it's those things that create holiday stress make the season a nightmare to some people. Maybe Jack and The Grinch need to get together. Jack could never figure out what all the Christmas stuff meant... But Christmas doesn't need to be saved... because as the Grinch knows, even without all the stuff, Christmas comes anyway!

Adults who are asked to remember Christmases when their parents didn't have much, often have fond memories about what they did do or get that year.  Kids are more likely to remember a small or special thing than a lot of meaningless things.

What are your plans to create a simple and more meaningful Christmas for your family?

Previous blogs you may like to read:

Don't Let the Grinch Steal Your Christmas!

The Gift of Nothing

The Present