Christmas isn't over!

 I love our neighbor across the street from us. He doesn't follow the modern norm of putting up Christmas decorations the minute the leftover Thanksgiving turkey is put away. No, he decorates his yard and home a day or two before Christmas and they stay up until the Feast of the Three Kings or there about. It is so sad that all of December is spent celebrating Christmas and just when the Octave of Christmas begins, so many people end it and the Valentine cards show up in the stores and people start planning for that.

Christmas begins the day Jesus was born and how much we and our children would miss if that was it as far as it went. There is so much more than just the Bethlehem scene to consider. What about the murder of the Holy Innocents? Herod's worry about a possible claim to his earthly throne? The Three Kings, their meeting with Herod, and their vision about not returning to Herod after their visit with Jesus and His family? Too many parts of an important history are left out.

To me, the saddest part of Christmas is all the trees dumped by the curb for trash pick up before the end of Christmas Day. Mothers sigh with relief that all this fuss is done for another year. Holiday visitors have long gone. All many have is leftover Christmas treats and forgotten reasons for the season. If Christmas lasted as long as our frantic shopping for it, we'd certainly be a happier people.