Thankfulness & The Christmas Season
"You being enriched in everything to all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us."
I don’t know about you, but I love this time of the year. For many, November 1st marks the beginning of the Christmas season, but for our family, the festivities don’t start until just after Thanksgiving. We usually kick it off by watching the 1930s adaptation of A Christmas Carol just after the fourth Thursday in November, and, at least this year, we even put up our tree that weekend.
Don’t get me wrong, we’re just as excited for Advent and eventually Christmas as anyone else, but one thing that I hope to cultivate for our girls1 going forward is an appreciation for Thanksgiving. I’d like to take some time where we can effortlessly slow down and meditate on what it is that we have to be thankful for. While Thanksgiving isn’t a holiday instituted by the Church, in many ways it feels like it should be given that it’s centered primarily on themes of gratitude and togetherness.
(At this point, you’re probably asking why I’m talking so much about Thanksgiving weeks after the fact. Aren’t we much closer to Christmas now?
That’s a fair question—and had I not been sick last weekend this would have come out at a more appropriate time—but considering that 1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us to “give thanks in all circumstances” while other passages instruct us on securing an attitude of thanksgiving that lasts all year long, I’m giving myself a pass.)
It’s easy for many to skip over Thanksgiving, to see it as nothing more than a “turkey day” where we feast until our hearts (and stomachs) are content (or bursting) before turning on a football game and checking out for the rest of the evening. Of course, that’s not what Thanksgiving is about at all, and the reality is that I believe Thanksgiving’s spot on the calendar just before Christmas isn’t a mistake or coincidence.
Rather, I believe it’s providential.
Thanksgiving is a time when we’re meant to go around the table and remember what it is we’re thankful for. Living in arguably the wealthiest nation on the planet, we in America have a lot to be thankful for, even if our culture would rather be outraged about whatever “the latest thing” is that we should be upset about. Thankfulness is an attitude that we should practice all year long, but around Thanksgiving, it should be our default position.
The holiday reminds us that we’ve almost made it through another year, and the feast that follows notes that God has provided for us along the way. Despite being an American holiday (though many other nations celebrate something similar), Thanksgiving feels like it’s a Christian one for many of the reasons I’ve noted before, but also because it leads us so naturally into Christmas…
Our consumerism to the contrary, Christmas itself is about the birth of our Savior. It points back to the moment in history that literally changed everything, including the way we view and keep time.2 In fact, it’s an event that we celebrate every year as if His birth had just occurred, and the good news had only just arrived. Famed theologian and author G.K. Chesterton once wrote of the holiday that “…it does not celebrate some event a thousand years back, but some event that has just happened, some event that happens every year.”3
I think Chesterton is onto something when he notes that Christmas harkens back to something that happens “every year.” Like Thanksgiving, Christmas should be seen as a celebration of the present, not just the gifts that we give physically, but the greatest gift that’s continually gifted to us because of what first happened back in the first century A.D.
If Thanksgiving is meant to get us thinking about all the material and economic blessings around us (and thank God for them), then Christmas is a time when we should be thankful for the spiritual blessings that we’ve received (and will receive) through Jesus Christ.
Advent—the days and weeks leading up to Christmas on the Church calendar—is a season that is meant to prepare us for the Christmas celebration. Advent is all about waiting. It’s a time when we anticipate the renewing birth of Christ and the impact that singular event had on history. No wonder a holiday such as Thanksgiving would be there to precede it.
Again, I’d like to stress the fact that while Thanksgiving doesn’t occur at the same time for everyone in every nation who celebrates it, for us in America, I believe the reason it’s dated at the back end of November is ultimately so that we can prepare our hearts for the coming Messiah.
Of course, He already has come once, but even one of the most famous Christmas passages penned by the prophet Isaiah reminds us that He will be coming again too…
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
- Isaiah 9:6-7
Christmas speaks not just of the Savior’s birth, but also of the coming of a future King. Yes, Jesus will one day reign justly over the whole of Creation, and that’s something to truly be thankful for. As we anticipate Christmas each year, and meditate on the blessings we’ve been gifted each November, we should also be thankful for our returning King with a longing of anticipation.
According to the Apostle Paul, thanksgiving should be an active and important part of our daily lives. Particularly, thanksgiving should be focused on what we’ve been given in Christ (Colossians 2:6-7). While he may be primarily talking about the spiritual here, he no doubt also includes the material blessings we’ve been given.
With that in mind, just as Ebenezer Scrooge vows to keep Christmas all the year, we too must keep both Thanksgiving and Christmas all the year long.
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Some Petty Housekeeping
Many of you have likely already noticed that this edition of Further Up & Further In is a bit late. I’ve already gotten some comments about the infrequency of my writing here, and I’d like to apologize. Unfortunately, it cannot be helped.
Aside from working full-time,4 I’ve been mighty busy with my fiction writing. Many of you came in droves to support The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain when it came out around Halloween, and I’m so thankful for all your support!
Because I’m hoping to give more time to my family and community (as well as other writing projects), Further Up & Further In is going to become a once-a-month thing. Each month, I’ll share a new essay/musing, provide updates concerning my other work, and highlight anything I’ve seen that month that’s worth sharing with all of you. Stay tuned!
If a good month comes along and I’m able to get more than one of these out, that would be wonderful, but at this point, I cannot promise I’ll have the extra time. Come May, I’ll be much busier than before, and may even take some time off as a result. Thank you all for your understanding and patience.
For those who didn’t catch the last email I sent, my Christmas Ghost Story titled The Middle-Night is available now for Pre-Order on Amazon!
This is a digital exclusive, meaning you can only read it online (a print version is not in production at this time). If you have a Kindle, this won’t be a problem for you, nor will it be if you have an Amazon account (you should be able to read the whole thing in your browser).
"Spirits only appear to those on the verge of something greater."
Veteran trucker Doug Schleicher wishes he could be home with his family this Christmas, but times are tough. As a result, he's spending Christmas Eve 1995 all by his lonesome on the open road. Or, at least that's how he thought things would go. After a freak snowstorm sends him off the beaten trail, Doug finds himself at the base of Bear-tooth Mountain, where a greenish spectre follows his every move. Caught at a crossroads, Doug will be tried like he's never been before, and he may not make it out alive.
The Middle-Night is an installment of The Bear-tooth Mountain Archive, which seeks to uncover all the strange phenomena on this strange corner of the map. The veil between the seen and unseen, the natural and the supernatural, is thinnest beside Bear-tooth Mountain, but no matter what comes, there is always hope.
Taking place decades before The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain, this Christmas Ghost Story is a standalone tale that is perfect for the holiday season, with dark echoes of Dickens' A Christmas Carol and It's A Wonderful Life.
If you’re interested in my latest work of fiction, you can pre-order your digital copy HERE.
This Month’s Petty Picks
I’m appalled to admit that it took me this long to read The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Truthfully, I hated it at first, but once I got into the second act, my opinion started to change. John Proctor is great, and his fate was infuriating. If the Salem Witch Trials interest you at all, this one is a must-read for you.
Strangely, I almost feel like this book is more relevant today than it was during McCarthyism (though that’s another essay entirely), but what stands out most about this play is how quickly people can turn on one another without listening to the other side. Maybe this will be a post later on…
Joe Pickett is a Spectrum-turned-Paramount Original based on the book series by C.J. Box. I read Box’s Blue Heaven earlier this year and loved it, so when I was recommended Joe Pickett by my folks, I just had to jump in head-first. If you’re a fan of Western mysteries such as Longmire, you’ll love this.
With only two seasons thus far (and a third on the way), Joe Pickett is easily one of my favorite shows in the past few years. The characters and storytelling here are excellent, and I’m actually set to read the first of the C.J. Box novels, Open Season, after Christmas is over.
You read that right, we’re having another girl, due this May! I’m gonna have to come up with a name for her akin to The Little Miss. After all, they can’t both be the Little Miss!
Even those who refuse to use B.C. and A.D. should note that B.C.E. and C.E. are still centered around Christ’s birth in the first century. Changing the names of our timekeeping conventions doesn’t change the fact that they’re still focused on that particular event.
For more on biblical time-keeping, I’d highly recommend Rev. Josh Robinson’s book Re-enchanting Time: A Primer on How Christ’s Lordship Re-enchant’s Time-Keeping.
Special thanks to Ryan Whitaker Smith and his latest book Winter Fire: Christmas With G.K. Chesterton for turning me onto that one! It’s full of plenty of wonderfully rich Chesterton quotes that only make me want to read him more.
A bunch of freelance and part-time jobs still equals full-time, regardless of what classifications they technically fall under.