While thinking of jingling bells and how Batman’s suit must smell (new car? sweat? justice?), I thought about robins laying eggs. All this was brought on by the joker I saw driving an automobile I thought was just batty.

The rag top, pink Miata with Tokyo drift camber crested the hill and drove past me with the typical glass packed exhaust note you’d expect from a vehicle matching this description. There were graphics on it as well; perhaps this is what My Little Pony would look like if it had a baby with a Transformer?

Anyway, this trimmed transport had a Charlie Brown Christmas tree tied to the top (yup, on the folding convertible cover). And I thought to myself, what a wonderful world. Be free and be you. Celebrate the differences.

Christmas is the time of year we buy a bunch of stuff, blame it on a morbidly obese man, and bow before a glowing idol? We feign celebrating Christ but allow the holiday to be the fulfillment of capitalistic dreams. Every maker of goods and retailer desires you to purchase their wares. (Buy Mental Grenade stuff HERE! Ha Ha)

What are we actually celebrating? What should we be celebrating?

This post was originally intended to dive into the history of Christmas. Pitting Christ-mas against purported pagan practices is the sort of divisive thing I’d like to avoid this year. There are PLENTY of articles, podcasts, YouTube videos, etc to thoroughly confuse you. Unless you’re willing to invest serious time and effort, expect to be wrong about some or most of the Christmas holiday. Who wants to read a Christmas research paper anyway?

So deck the halls with Holly’s bowels and be jolly about it! Sorry, I shouldn’t have eviscerated those lyrics.

Did you know Bing Crosby has three stars on Hollywood’s “Walk of Fame?”
“According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin‘s “White Christmas” (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.^[1] The song, recognized as “the best-selling single of all time”, was released before the pop/rock singles-chart era and “was listed as the world’s best-selling single in the first-ever Guinness Book of Records (published in 1955) and—remarkably—still retains the title more than 50 years later”” –From the ever reliable Wikipedia

Before digital downloads made purchasing singles ridiculously easy, people had to physically go to the record store and buy it! Shocking, I know. Of the singles that sold more than ten-million physical copies or more, almost 12% of them are Christmas songs. No other holiday gets a top single?

Why do people want a white Christmas anyway? Most people find the holidays stressful and being trapped uncomfortably with extended family, or the in-laws, spells the kind of disaster Hallmark would never put on air.
All I want for Christmas is you? This concept is flawed from the start. Ask any therapist and they’ll tell you, when you make the relationship about the other person instead of living the adventure together, you’re doomed to fail.
Last Christmas I gave you my heart; the very next day, you gave it away. Next year, I’ll give it to someone “special?” Come on, you thought that girl LAST year was special and she screwed you over just like the next one will if you just give it away.

I was thinking the other day how ironic it is that some artists live in direct opposition to the life and teachings of Christ but are willing to use his name and songs about his birth to make money. That’s probably akin to “Taking the Lord’s name in vain.” Or perhaps God appreciates the irony of it all.

‘It’s true that some are preaching out of jealousy and rivalry. But others preach about Christ with pure motives. They preach because they love me, for they know I have been appointed to defend the Good News. Those others do not have pure motives as they preach about Christ. They preach with selfish ambition, not sincerely, intending to make my chains more painful to me. But that doesn’t matter. Whether their motives are false or genuine, the message about Christ is being preached either way, so I rejoice.” Philippians 1:15-18

“When he [Jesus] came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19:37-40

No matter if you believe or not, this time of year is used to praise Jesus for taking the form of human flesh, coming to live a perfect life among us so that He could be made a sacrifice for our wrong doing. We celebrate His coming into the world at Christmas and His death, burial, and resurrection at Easter.

Sure, you probably also tip your hat to a fat, old Saint wanna-be and contemplate why we even put a tree in our homes. But we put presents under them for others, a semi-selfless act. This holiday is about connection. Connect with the people around you. Celebrate that God sent His son to reconnect Himself with humanity. Don’t be alone.

There are people praying for you right now. I just prayed for you. Find a way to connect to family or a friend. Reach out and don’t be alone. If this time of year is a dark one, look for the light. Find something positive and hold fast. The ultimate goal should be to transform the struggle into a strength, Bruce Wayne did.

After you’ve become the Batman version of yourself, you’ll find jokers everywhere trying to take you down. You need Alfred, Robin, and Commissioner Gordon. Don’t be alone, there’s greater strength in the team. Even if you are alone and there’s no way to fix it, Jesus is there, even if you don’t think so.

Merry Christmas, y’all.

-Drew OUT!