I noticed today that city workers were adorning our downtown street lamps with Christmas wreaths. At first I was outraged – it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet! But Editor Mathias Baden advised me that the city may just be hoping to get its decorations up before the weather outside is too frightful.

I relented my case against early outdoor decorations, but it got me thinking. Even though I wait until the day after Thanksgiving, I love to put up my Christmas decorations. I break out the Christmas tunes as soon as I can. I love to celebrate Christmas.

But I also count myself as those morally opposed to the over-commercialization of a holiday important to my faith. If you don’t quite see how those poles can mesh, don’t worry – I can’t either. I think the best way I can describe how I feel both things at the same time is this: joy v. stuff. 

I am into the Christmas season out of joy. I love the feeling I get when I hear the first Christmas carol of the season. I love that nostalgia I feel for my childhood when I see bright lights on a tree through a frosted window. And don’t even get me started on Christmas cookies.

The over-commercialization, in my opinion, focuses more on the Christmas stuff. Major retailers are pushing shopping as the major act of the holiday season. They use Christmas as a hook to get you into the store to buy more things. It’s as if the best thing you should hope to get from Christmas is a gift card or a brand new fake tree with lights already installed. There’s no joy to be found there.

I know that may seem a bit hypocritical, loving Christmas songs and decorations and hating the companies that sell those things. I may just think that’s hypocritical, too. But I do know that I am excited for the season for the right reasons (joy, wonder, and salvation come to mind) – and not the wrong ones (greed and consumerism).

What do you think?