I’ve come to expect the early and gaudy ads making a buck off of Christmas and while it doesn’t bother me too much I still enjoy complaining about it.
On a recent Saturday morning I took my two-year-old daughter Sophia out to breakfast and then we spent some time at Target, Wal-Mart and then over to Barnes and Noble before we hit our last stop, Macy’s. My intention was to kill some time and give my wife some much needed rest before she planned to clean the house for our company later that evening. While roaming around these stores it was apparent that the “Holiday” marketing team was in full swing. We were accosted in one store as we walked in by a huge, 8-foot-tall, plastic snow globe lawn ornament blowing plastic pellets of snow with Santa inside. Standing next to that was a full-sized Santa grinning foolishly and ringing his bell. My heart went out for any poor soul who had to work in that area and be subjected to that bell and “Ho, Ho, Ho” all day. It was pretty pathetic looking and conveyed absolutely nothing about Christmas; which was expected. As we strolled down various isles we encountered much of the same, snowmen, plastic trees, fake Santas and cheesy music.
The bookstore was ready for us as well. Every possible book about Christmas was on display and in the music section everything from Christmas with Pavarotti to Yuletide with Burl Ives, from Country Christmas to “Rocking Santa” was displayed. I never knew so many Christmas albums existed. As we entered the children’s area we were confronted by more displays of Santa and Snowmen. Of course you couldn’t find any mention of Jesus; again there was no room for him.
I was caught off guard however as we entered Macy’s. I was already a bit jaded by the marketers of Christmas and prepared myself for much of the same. I knew somewhere Santa would show up on a pair of boxer shorts and Mrs. Claus would appear on a sweater surrounded by reindeer.
What I saw caught my ears first and then my eyes. It was a moment of grace in the midst of holiday chaos. There was the sound of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” playing softly and a tree decorated with blue and white garland. Larger presents were placed at the bottom of the tree and in between them there was a smaller present, about the size of a package of playing cards wrapped in gold paper. I took it in for a moment and I picked up my daughter to give her a better view. She pointed to the small gold box and said, “Daddy, Jesus, yes.”
I’m not sure who was responsible for the display and who decided to place the small gold package there between the larger gifts but both my daughter and I picked up on the significance of the present. I looked at her and said, “Yes honey, Jesus, yes, He’s God’s present to us.” In the midst of the “holiday” season, in the providence of our daily lives, grace was present. “Glory to the newborn King!”
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Allan Wright received his M.A. in Theology in Scripture from Immaculate Conception Seminary at Seton Hall University. He is an Adjunct Professor at Seton Hall University and at Assumption College for Sisters in Mendham, NJ. He is author of the book Silent Witnesses in the Gospels (St. Anthony Messenger Press). He can be reached at www.allanwright.org.
