The Sights, Sounds, Smells and Feelings of Christmas
My sister, mother and I have a tradition in our family where we gather sometime before Christmas and bake cookies and make candy in massive quantities to share with others during the Christmas holiday season. While baking oatmeal cookies my sister opened the oven door and breathed in the fragrance of baking cookies and said while savoring the moment, "now, that's what Christmas smells like." I joined her at the oven door and savored the fragrance for a moment, but upon reflection replied, "no, I think Christmas would smell more like a barn."
This created within me thought patterns of which sensory experiences are uniquely Christmas. For some the smell of baking cookies and pies, fresh cut Christmas trees or even the combined fragrances of Christmas dinner cooking reminds us of Christmas. These are fragrances of how we celebrate the season, but in truth, when looking back a few millennia, the fragrances which marked the event of Jesus' birth were likely quite different and not so pleasant to the olfactory senses. Traditions which we celebrate with our family or culture are quite comforting and pleasant, but think back to the Christmas story…Jesus was born among lowly domestic animals–the fragrances of the time were likely that of animals, hay or feed, the damp earth and yet there amidst the smells of the barn or cave is the smell of a new baby! Who hasn't held a child in their arms and breathed in the fragrance? Maybe its just me, but nothing smells better than a baby.
Many sights, sounds, smells, and experiences of the holidays seem to set the mood for how we celebrate our Savior's birth, but as you gather with family and friends this Christmas season, remember the story of Jesus' birth. God came into human company in the lowliest of terms. There were no houses festooned with lights, ribbons, greenery and sparkles. There was only the starlight of a darkened night. There were no enormous feasts awaiting the Holy Family when they arrived in Bethlehem. Not only did they encounter a town with no room for them, but the feast of that evening was for the animals who settled in for a night of rest unknowing they'd soon be sharing space with humans. And the music and laughter which fills our ears through our worship services and family gatherings may not have been the sounds of the season surrounding the Christ-child's birth. It is more likely the sounds were that of soldiers occupying a town filled to overflowing with dispersed citizens returning to register for taxation–and all were not likely enjoying the journey they had to take for this process nor the prospect of the burden these new taxes would be on their livelihoods. No, it is more likely the sounds of that night so long ago were more the low groan felt across the earth for the oppression of the time and the discord which comes from such oppression.
God came to us so long ago in the simplest of ways within the most difficult circumstances of the times and continues to meet us where we are today–in the glitter, lights and tinsel of the season or in the loneliness, darkness and silences of our existence. Open your hearts this Christmas to prepare room for the Great Emmanuel–God is with us! For God sent his only son, a great Comfort in times of need and the Prince of Peace for a hurting world.
Blessings,
Tracy