Silver Bells

On my way home from work on November 2nd, I heard the bells. Silver Bells. Apparently it’s Christmas time in the city. The Christmas season seems to start a little earlier every year, but November 2nd seemed a little overboard. Pre-Thanksgiving? Really?

However, the music didn’t really bother me all that much. When it gets dark out at 4:30, and when it’s generally too cold to do anything outside, this time of year, which is beautiful during the day, can become gloomy and strange at night. Hearing Christmas songs as I drove home in the dark didn’t upset me. It cheered me.

I’ve always thought that Christmas was an ill-timed holiday. While the winter solstice means that days will start getting longer again, we spend a month of celebrating only to head in to the coldest dreariest time of the year. I’ve always wanted to move the Holiday back so that we have something to celebrate in the awfully cold months, rather than the nice fall months.

But I can take moving it earlier, too.

People talk about a danger of too much Christmas. That if we start it too early, it will take the magic away. I suppose that’s true. We can only be charitable and cheery for so long. Christmas stresses people out and can be challenging to our finances.

However, there is something I like about hearing Christmas music on the radio. An all-Christmas radio station simply cannot avoid throwing a few religious songs into a normally secular mix. No matter if it’s music, movies, or people shouting, “Merry Christmas!” the season has stood strong in an otherwise secular atheist world. (By the way, the commercialization of Christmas is not a bad thing when combined with the knowledge of the purpose for why we celebrate. Commercialization is a way to make it fun. Gift giving is an extension of other acts of charity performed throughout the season. Showing love to people and giving gifts can never inherently be bad – it is only bad when it loses it’s meaning. Whether you are an atheist or Christian, the gift-giving of Christmas is a great tradition).

No wonder people want to tear Christmas apart. Even a non-religious Christmas song still talks about Christmas (Christ) and “good cheer.” And if you listen to the religious or semi-religious carols, you will be amazed at how much more than just the nativity they tell. Some provide a biography of Jesus, others talk about how he came down to save us all, and others talk about the love of God to do all this for us. Quite different from just “Silent Night, Holy Night.”

For this reason alone, I think that playing Christmas music early is just fine! Maybe the music can remind us all about our heritage and our faith. It may bring others closer to Christ. For others, it may just make them feel warm and fuzzy in the dark nights. (By the way, I still find it inappropriate to play in the day time – when the sun is out, it is still just fall…It could be early October for all I know, so I try to avoid those Christmas stations until after sundown).

Finally, I'd like to address the argument that we can ruin the Christmas spirit by extending the Holiday. This is too true, based on history. There was a time when the Christmas spirit abounded. It was Christmas every day. Back in the days of the early church, people got excited about Jesus all year long. Early Christians shared all they had – which we don’t even do at Christmas. They were experts in turning the other cheek, and they followed their beliefs to the death. We tear down our nativity scenes when someone complains. Does our apathy to our great Christian heritage come from too much exposure? While I don’t think that’s the main reason at all, it could be a factor.

Yes, we should celebrate Christmas all year round. Maybe not in the secular sense, or even in the sense of being giving in the material sense. But we should be making a big deal, a big fuss, and a big party out of the fact that our Lord would come down to earth to save us all. Now that is something worth celebrating early.