Chipping away at the Cynicism

I have to admit, I've not been in much of a Christmas mood up to today. There's been no time to put up the tree and decorate - and I haven't minded that so much. After all, no one sees it but me anyway. Some of my growing cynicism has affected my Christmas spirit.

Today though, things have been slowly chipping away at that cynicism. This morning I did a good chunk of my Christmas shopping before going in to work. I figured that would be the best time of day - when parking is still freely available and the lines for check-out are short. Surprisingly, I was really getting into the search for the perfect gift for each of my staff members. Granted, I only went to one store, but it was a good one to hit. I found what I think is a great fit for each of them. And yes, I only had to wait for one person to finish ahead of me for checking out too! So ok, maybe the Christmas spirit is starting to grow a little.

I then did a little more "shopping" online by giving a couple of gifts to charity (St. Jude Hospital and ELCA World Hunger) in honor of my best friend and my parents. That's all Linda wants, and that's all my parents need. There's a lot to be said about giving gifts that are about more than what we find wrapped under the tree.

Then this afternoon I went to the Holiday concert at Burbank School. The concert opened with the 6th grade class singing "America." Now, I'm not usually touched by patriotic songs, but to see this diverse group of kids singing "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty...." actually made this bleeding heart liberal a bit teary-eyed. At least 3/4 of the class was not white. This was not your average group of suburban white kids singing their patriotic songs while waving flags and wearing red, white and blue. This was a mix of kids who were Hmong, Latino, Black, White, or some combination of the aforementioned. Half of those kids were most likely born in other parts of the world, or at most are first generation Americans. They are the very symbol of what that song is about. Boy was I wishing all our politicians in Madison and Washington, DC could have been there to see these kids singing loud and proud.

So now that my eyes were already wet, next came the 4 year old Kindergarten class singing about elves making toys. These kids were adorable!!! Some of them may be lucky to have toys waiting for them on Christmas Day, but they know the spirit of the season anyway. Anybody have a kleenex?

After finishing up all the worship bulletins with my secretary, I finally got out to find ornaments for my kids at church too. Over the years I've given them something to take home from worship every Christmas Eve, so I can't stop now. Found the perfect ones at World Market - 50% off even! Yes, the spirit is taking over.

Tonight I get to wrap the gifts I bought this morning, and heck, I may even play Christmas music instead of using the TV for background sound. I probably won't bother with the tree yet this year (an awful lot of work just to have it up for a week or so,) but I think this melting of my hardened heart may help with the sermon writing for the approaching days.

Now to see if I have enough tape in the house to wrap my gifts....