I think that my memory of my childhood is probably different than the memories that my parents would have had, but I do remember a sort of busy time preceding Christmas. There was a routine that I recognized. We had a school Christmas program. It usually involved music. I didn’t play in the band until I was in the 5th grade, so the years before that were probably programs with the entire class singing songs. I’m sure all the grades of our grade school participated in the same program. I can’t remember, but I think the program was in the evening.

Then there was our Sunday School Christmas program. It usually was the same week as the school program and I think it occurred in the evening as well. I know that we didn’t have our Sunday School program during the time for regular Sunday worship. The Sunday School program meant that Christmas was really close - just a few days away. I had a brother who was born on December 24, so our home Christmas celebrations never started on Christmas Eve - that was his birthday and we celebrated Christmas on the day.

Santa Claus made an appearance in our town - generally on the Saturday before Christmas. He’d come down main street on a fire engine and we’d each get a paper bag with peanuts and hard candy. We lived in a small town, so we didn’t have multiple appearances of Santa Claus. I think we knew that Santa pretty much camped out at a big department store in Billings, and some of our classmates would get to see him on a Saturday before Christmas, but our family generally stayed home. Our folks’ wedding anniversary on December 15 was a day when we had a babysitter and they would go out for their anniversary. By the time I was 10 or so, I knew that the excursion involved some Christmas shopping as well.

We had a few Christmas events during Advent in our home town. We sang Christmas carols at school and at church. Our programs focused on Christmas. But there also was some sense that the celebrations really belonged at home on the actual day of Christmas. There was no business in our town - not even a gas station - that was open on Christmas day in our town. I know that the hospital remained open, and the police and fire department were available, but except for a very small staff at the hospital, other essential workers spent the day “on call” at home. And in those days “on call” meant sticking close to their home telephone so they would be available. My folks ran the air ambulance, and so had to be available, but I never remember them having to make a flight on Christmas day.

One of the functions of my memories these days is as a marker of how things have changed. My perspective is too narrow to tell whether the changes are good or bad or neutral. I’m only able to observe differences. I’ll leave the judgment to others.

These days, scheduling a children’s program is a definite challenge. Their families are so busy that programs have to be planned within the context of events that are already scheduled. It is possible that many families will make one extra trip to the church for a rehearsal, but there will be a single rehearsal only, and not all of the children will be able to participate. Then the program itself has to be scheduled during the regular worship hour. Otherwise there is no chance that we would get participation of a significant segment of the children and youth who participate in our programs. The blessing of that format is that children learn to participate in worship. the program is crafted as a worship service and the children provide the leadership as opposed to a program with lots of clapping and other elements that are not as worshipful.

The challenge is that other groups want the same day to showcase their Christmas preparations. All of this seems to focus on the third Sunday of Advent in our church. The fourth Sunday of Advent is deemed “too close” to Christmas and the expectation is that families will be traveling for the holiday and that children would not be available to participate. The same is true for bell choir and vocal choir members. Their directors have to plan their special numbers to occur before Christmas, because the ensembles are short of members at the holiday.

Christmas Eve is still 10 days away, but we’ve already attended most of the Christmas concerts that we’ll get into the season. There are a few more Christmas parties and other events, but community-based events and activities are focused on the build-up. The 10 days before Christmas are more “Christmassy” than the 12 days of Christmas. With Christmas on a Thursday this year, there will be a lot of decorations that are removed and in storage before the first Sunday of Christmas. By the second Sunday of Christmas, there will be a few people who will wonder why we’re still singing Christmas Carols. After all, they’ve been playing them on the sound system at the mall since before Thanksgiving.

I sort of like being out of sync with the rest of the community and culture. I like to allow Christmas to unfold in its own way. If I had my way, we’d wait until after Christmas Day for the children’s program at church. I’d love to fill the 12 days of Christmas with choir cantatas, handbell specials, pot-luck dinners and all kinds of Christmas celebrations.

But that isn’t likely to happen. We are counter-cultural, but only to a certain point. We are also shaped by the society in which we live and minister. And in that culture New Years is a distinct holiday from Christmas and a day for football. Buy the time Epiphany rolls around on January 6 most people think the 3 kings should have already made their appearance and disappeared.

The world is changing, however. I suspect it will be different when our grandchildren are adults. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds.

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