As usual, the secular world gets it wrong. The world starts celebrating Christmas in November and then stops on December 26. Not only that, the people celebrate something they call "Christmas" but has nothing really to do with Christmas. Let's talk about it.
The Christmas season begins on Christmas Day in the liturgical calendar. Before this, there is Advent, which is a time of preparation for the coming of Christmas. Advent started on Sunday, November 29, 2020 this year and ended on Christmas Eve. But people are impatient. As usual, they want Christ without the Cross. They want the goodies without the purification and preparation beforehand. They want to eat their dessert first.
This is a fundamental misunderstanding of what Christmas is about. The Church has always taught as is spoken in the Old Testament, that there is a time for everything in life. There are good times and bad times, easy times and hard times. Times of joy and times of penance. Without these natural rhythms in life, we are missing something and we can easily become attached to created things without giving due regard to our Creator.
I think we intuitively know this but we choose to ignore it. If you were preparing for a big feast at 5:00pm, would it make sense to have a huge meal at 2:30pm? Of course not, it would ruin the experience of the later meal. Many people love to get up early in the morning, but only if they went to bed on time the prior evening. People want to get in shape, but one must sacrifice some things in order to get there. It's great and joyful to be in good health, but people are not willing to undergo the struggle to get there.
So it is in a spiritual sense. People are unwilling to make any sacrifices or wait. Ironically these sacrifices do not make things worse but much better. If people used Advent for a purification of themselves and their souls, Christmas would be much more fruitful in many ways, especially spiritually. I think that's part of the reason why people abandon Christmas almost as soon as it starts. Nothing is much different. Once the big day comes and goes, they are done observing and are moving on to the next thing. They get neither the purification nor the true joy.
On top of all this, what people call "Christmas" really isn't Christmas at all. People will often say we should remember the "true" meaning of Christmas by which they mean spending time with family and friends. Although this is a joyful aspect of the season, it is not the reason behind it. I suppose at least it's better than thinking Christmas is all about getting gifts.
Christmas is the celebration that God came to earth as a little baby, a child born in a poor situation, but fully God, to bring us salvation. This is such a great miracle, and that is what Christmas is all about.
My plea is that people not stop celebrating Christmas early. It goes until January 10, which is the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Keep Christ in Christmas, and keep Mass in Christmas (Christ's Mass) and finally keep Christmas in Christmas.
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