True Reason for the Season...

“Jingle bells.. jingle bells.. jingle all the way...”

“I’m dreaming of a white christmas…”

“O Christmas.. o christmas tree…”

“Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh…”

“You better watch out.. you better not cry.. Santa Claus is coming to town..”

“Rudolf the red nose reindeer, have a very shiny nose…”

Aaaah… those were some of the songs that we always hear on the radio, TV, shopping malls etc when Christmas is near… yes, it makes it merrier and sets the mood before 25^th December… I love those songs...

Decorating christmas tree is fun, of which I had for the first time in my life this year, together with my wife. My son just sit and watch us setting up and decorating the tree… but once we finish, he starts un-doing the decorations… haha. I also had my first carolling at home this year, thanks to some friends who still remember us. They made the effort to drive some kilometres away from the kampong just to serenade us with carols and yes, they sang beautifully. Nice!! Thanks my friends…

Oh noo.. I haven’t bought my son any new clothes. My wife has been reminding me from early this month. Look like I’ll be doing some late shopping…

But the “jingle bells”, christmas tree, buying new clothes and all those merry things sometimes let us forgets the true reason of Christmas. Yes, it happens to many people and it happens to me too. I do know the true reason and it’s engraved in my mind.. but things around me keeps on ‘dirtying’ the place where it is ‘engraved’ and I will ‘lose sight of it’. Only when I go and ‘clean’ the ‘rubbish’ that makes that place dirty, sometimes beyond recognition, then only I will ‘remember’ back what it is. Of course IT will still be there for the rest of my life. It’s up to me to always go there and ‘clean’ it.

That’s why the Church has a season called ‘Advent’, which is about a month (or four Sundays) before Christmas. Advent is a time of preparation for and anticipation of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom we celebrate on Christmas day. It's not about "santa claus coming to town" or "rudolf the red nose reindeer" or the worse, "christmas tree with lots of blings".

In my opinion, Advent is a way to makes us remember the true reason for Christmas. Again in my opinion, the Church does not forbid us to make Christmas a fun and merry occasion, but the Church also want to keep us always reminded the true reason why there is Christmas in the first place.

I am not writing this because I am pious or what. I am just an ordinary person and human. It’s just that I only want to remind all of us (including myself) who celebrate Christmas, not to forget the true reason for the Season while we are having fun, good times etc…

Cheers everybody…