One thing that makes Christmas unique of all of our holidays is the way it can tug at your heart strings. A sentimental Christmas story can bring a tear to your eye like no other story can. There is a longing at Christmas that you feel no other time of the year. There is a sense that anything could happen this time of year.
People who are new converts or immature believers do not understand this. To them everything is about Jesus and what he did for us. But when you have been saved as long as I have you find out that there are other things that, at least in this lifetime, have weight and are important. Heaven is more pie in the sky in the sweet by and by for me. Christmas is the time when the absence of someone who used to be there gets very intense.
There is a joy at Christmas. There can be an acute loneliness at Christmas also. This is why Christmas affects our emotions more than any other holiday or celebration. When is the last time you were moved to tears by a Sunday morning sermon? I have been moved to tears by Christmas commercials just today.
This is why I say, let Christmas be Christmas. And let the story of Jesus' birth be told on Sunday.
One more thought. If you are a widow, and Christmas does not make you cry, then I suspect that your love for your now dead spouse was not very deep or very strong. Mourning is the outward proof of your inward love and devotion. Grieving is proof that you loved.
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