I Believe in Christmas Magic

I know, I know Christmas magic won’t really make reindeer fly or an overweight bearded man slide UP a chimney…Santa is only a legendary figure and unfortunately that’s true whether you want it to be or not.  At some point we all succumb to the harsh reality that the North Pole really is just a hunk of ice at the top of the globe and that there aren't traffic-directing polar bears or toy making elves laboring away in an out of sight secret castle where hot cocoa flows like a river.  I get it, don’t rub it in.

Still though, I firmly believe that Christmas does hold with it a mysterious kind of magic, which if one would only believe in and harness, can make the fiction of Santa pale in comparison to the true story of Christ.

Christmas is the celebration of the giving of a most magical gift, mankind’s greatest gift ever received to be precise.  A birthday party that began some 2013 years ago and still being celebrated, now that’s a special magic indeed.  Now I know Christmas as we celebrate it today in Western culture is a far cry from the Christ-centered remembrances of early Christendom, but that doesn’t detract from my point.  My point is this, Christmas whether celebrated in the US, Europe, Australia or anywhere else on the planet is in its essence a celebration of Heaven’s greatest gift, Jesus, given to a dying and desperate world.  We may have mixed it in with some pagan solstice celebrations or some winter recognition or rituals of one sort or another, but it is still, as we celebrate it today, centered on that greatest of gifts.  It's a birthday party.   And we all celebrate those occasions in our own unique ways.  Whether you believe in the reality of Christ as the center of the celebration or not, guess what – by celebrating Christmas you are joining in our fun and joining in His party.

Last night we took a ride to the North Pole.  A ride on the Polar Express to be exact. 

It may have been a train that spends the rest of the year on less lofty excursions and sure, the North Pole we visited last night may have, in other seasons, been in Peninsula, Ohio, but last night in the hearts and minds of the children aboard the train we were there.  It was magic.

It's a Christmas kind of magic that allows a 10 year old who in his mind knows we're in Akron Ohio to suspend disbelief just long enough to allow his heart to take over and be transported to the North Pole.  It was the spirit of Christmas that prompted parents to smile and stare glassy-eyed through the foggy windows at the lights and painted cutouts and want just as bad as their children to be there in the moment, in the magic.  It may not have focused on the Christ in Christmas, but what does cake have to do with someone turning a year older?  It is part of the celebration.  It creates the energy that makes the Season bright and makes these moments memorable.  Who can, regardless of their religious persuasion, experience Christmas magic of this type and not have a favorable feeling about Jesus, of whom the Holiday is named.  Who can see the pure Joy in a child’s eyes as they open the gift they have been dreaming of and not, for at least a moment, feel the Joy that must have been in the hearts of the shepherds as they gazed upon the Savior’s face in the flesh on that first Christmas night? 

Christmas magic, if we look at it through this lens, can help us to understand the emotions that surrounded the birth of Jesus.  Think about the logistical nightmare of traveling, by donkey, hundreds of miles with a pregnant wife and no GPS only to find that there are no spots to sleep when you get there.  Contrast that with finding a parking spot, then navigating the mall in late December with a Christmas list of specific items for those you love and don’t want to disappoint. 

Think of God who knew what we needed, gave it to us with no strings attached and only asked that we accept it, only to be turned down by an ungrateful bunch of self-centered whiners.  Ever try to give a child new clothes or underwear as a gift under the tree instead of a toy?  A small sense of what God must feel.

There really are lessons that we can take from the commercialized Christmas that exists today, one needs only look out into the faces of the lost sheep at the malls or into the eyes of the child who won’t be getting even a full meal this Christmas let alone any nicely wrapped gifts under a brightly lit tree and you can understand why God gave us Christ, His son and why He showed us how to love the lost and care for the needy.  He knew we needed saving and that Jesus was the Savior we needed. He surely knew that we wouldn’t all like it either, just as we know as parents that our children need more than candy canes and marshmallow filled Santa chocolates to eat on Christmas, it doesn’t mean that they are all going to like a healthy meal.  There are lessons to be learned and gifts to be given and received even today, 2013 years into the birthday party. 

Personally, I think that Christ loves Christmas, and I believe that He loves seeing the magic it creates even if we don’t always attribute it all to Him.  It is a means to understand that which is beyond our normal mortal comprehension.  It's a way to get a glimpse at the feelings of Christmas in the Christ-centered sense.  We can’t teleport back 2000 years to be there with the Shepherds or the Magi in that stable, but we can celebrate and experience the magic and wonder of Christmas this year right in our homes. 

Merry Christmas as you celebrate in whatever way brings Joy to your heart and a twinkle to your eye, and if you want to bring a smile to the One whose birthday we celebrate, maybe light a birthday candle and sing Him happy birthday, after all He is allowing us to receive all of the gifts on His special day.