Holidays and CelebrationsAs a child, my family's devotion to holidays and celebrations ran consistent with many other families. We, like many, weren't too concerned with or mindful of their origins or history. One thing is for sure. I aim to have
stress free holidays! The origins of holidays and celebrations, or the original celebration from which a later celebration stemmed, has not been as much of a driving force for leading our decisions on what to take part in as much as what the actual holiday means to us today. Across the board, my husband and I have changed in the way we see holidays and celebrations and the whole world. Naturally, I have a tendency to think outside the box and do things, to a degree, in non-traditional ways. Here's an overview of how we observe certain holidays and celebrations: Easter / Resurrection Day Almost all Christians I know talk about "Easter" with regard to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Or, at least, it seems that way. Perhaps when they say Easter, they are referring to Jesus and the bunnies. I don't know. Anyway, we're not into "Easter" with bunnies, eggs, and baskets. We don't give significance to Easter. We give significance to the resurrection of Christ and enjoy reading scriptures and taking communion with other Believers (things we enjoy doing other times as well, of course). :) Mother's Day & Father's Day Honoring my mother and father is a command I take very seriously. I find ways to care for, honor, and respect my parents every chance I get. These holidays for moms and dads are a yearly reminder of what our mindsets and actions should resemble year-round. Birthdays Birthdays, as well as other holidays and celebrations, were always an outlet for my family's creativity and desire to choose a theme and see how far they can run with it! :) I have good memories of birthday parties as a child. What I remember the most were the games that my friends and I played. Fast forward many years later and now I am married and have a child. We have had a party for my daughter every year for her birthday. I don't like to focus on gifts, but I do sometimes include ideas or list her interests because if I don't, I will be asked to. :) To celebrate the fourth year since our daughter joined our lives, we invited family and friends to celebrate her origin. She was born in Idaho so I set up a table with Idaho-themed objects with informational note cards. I hid a laptop computer inside a brown paper "mountain" that I crafted. A small portion of the screen was viewable and I played a continuous slide show of her most recent pictures. It was a lot of fun and other people were able to learn more about her and where she is from. I frequently do things differently from what is expected. For instance, for my daughter's birthday, I don't make or buy a cake, light candles, sing the birthday song, and have her make a wish. I just don't want to. Besides, we don't make wishes and blow out candles like something wonderfully spooky will happen, we hope in the Lord and make petitions with thanksgiving. Anyway, those are some of the ways we celebrate birthdays. Maybe you can think of some ways to make your holidays and celebrations more unique and less routine... The way I see it, if you can have a party for no reason, you can have a party for a good reason. Not to worship or idolize a person, but to let them know that they are valuable and you are glad they are a part of your life. And, no presents are necessary for that. :) Anniversaries Birth-day anniversaries are the most common of anniversary celebrations. Another commonly celebrated type is the wedding anniversary which is what you typically think of when someone says it's their anniversary. Days or seasons that we observe as holidays and celebrations are upheld because of the sentiment of those days. Anniversaries (wedding and birthday) are a couple of the celebrations that actually have milestones within themselves. Milestone anniversaries in marriage are years 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, and 75 (I wonder how rare 75 is...). Some birthday milestones (that I can think of) are 16, 18, 21, 30, 40, 50, and 100. My husband and I take great joy and godly pride in our wedding anniversary each year. They are a monument to our perseverance and commitment and ever-growing evidence of our respect for the sovereignty of our covenant relationship with each other and God. With such a high divorce rate, those of us still celebrating our wedding anniversaries should rejoice and determine to make the next year better. It was simply a time to explore our imaginations, expand our capacity for terror, and take part in the fun of scaring others and being scared by others. We had no problem with dressing up as devils, ghosts, witches, or bloody, mutilated butchers. We went trick-or-treating, enjoyed spooky parties and school carnivals, excitedly toured haunted houses, and did our best to tell the scariest stories. At the age of 17, I got married and continued to celebrate Halloween by decorating our home with spider webs, evil varmints, witches, and the like. My husband and I even met each other as teenagers at a Halloween party on October 31, 1998. It wasn't until my husband and I were drawn closer to the Lord that we began to separate ourselves from things that went against our faith in Christ. Halloween was one of those things. Speaking of witch-I mean which, here's a good question to consider...
Should Christians celebrate Halloween? At Thanksgiving, we enjoy a healthy (at least for our contributions), home-cooked feast and remember the spiritual aspects of this interesting historical event. I'm referring to the ongoing debate surrounding this holiday and the question "should Christians celebrate Christmas." The debate focuses on the origin of Christmas or where and how the idea to create a holiday called Christmas came about. Indecisive about holidays and celebrations? Many people don't give much thought to how they observe holidays and celebrations, I'm sure. But personally, I give much thought to just about everything. These pages on holidays and celebrations and my understanding of their origins serves only to share my convictions and knowledge on the subject and to encourage you to think more about what you do every day of your life and why you do it. Our household's very lifestyle goes against the mainstream as we commit our ways and submit ourselves to Christ. As Christians, ever-seeking the Lord, our convictions go through a process of progressive solidification. We are changed step by step. Sometimes we find ourselves feeling staggered or in a state of inconsistency or indecision. We may bring up a concern, but not completely carry it out ourselves. Or, we may find ourselves doing something this year, that we end up not doing next year because of the way it made us feel. Keep praying and seeking the Lord. Keep it simple and try to only do what you are able to do in faith. Make the changes that you are sure of and work out the rest over time. If you disagree with anything I have said here, I don't mind. I can handle a difference of opinion and conviction. Conviction from within will cause a person to change and go in the right direction faster than criticism and pressure from without - from someone telling you to do what God (or a highly influential person in their life) has told them to do, but that God hasn't told you to do, yet - perhaps. It's good to remember that people and their own ideas can have great power over our lives. Some people purposely twist, spin, and mix their own beliefs with truth to repackage it then eloquently and persuasively present it as the whole "gospel" truth. When people are stuck arguing over something like holidays and celebrations it usually goes nowhere and just causes strife and division. If you feel strongly that you should make some changes to your own observed holidays and celebrations, or life, begin by making the changes of which you are sure and seek God about the rest. Go to Simple Living from Holidays and Celebrations |
