Where Are You Christmas by Wendy Leppert

We have all heard the song by Faith Hill in the Grinch movie where little Cindy Lou Who looks out the window, singing, asking this very question…

After going shopping with my mom the other day, I felt like I was living in Whoville and wondering the same thing that poor Cindy was singing about. The mall, always known to be full of hustling and bustling shoppers this time of year, was like a ghost town. The chair that Santa once sat in, was empty.

Normally, when you go Christmas shopping at a mall, you are bound to run into someone you know, and smile at those that you don’t, because it’s just that time of the year when you can “feel” the peace and excitement of the season.

Now, when you pass someone, you do not recognize them or see if they are smiling because their faces are covered with a mask. Where a lady once stood outside of a body lotion store, smiling and spraying samples for you, stood a security guard making sure the customers stay 6 feet away from each other and confirm that the store doesn’t exceed its limit of patrons.

This store was always one of our favorites to shop at Christmastime because of the great deals and the fragrance of everyone spraying and sampling to pick out the perfect lotion, spray, or candle. Now, it seems empty inside and people are not bumping into each other, laughing, and apologizing like they used to. You are afraid to even talk to each other without getting scolded for being “too close”. Not that you can understand each other anyhow, talking through a mask.

The stores seemed empty, much lower on inventory than normal. The cashiers were trying to be cheerful and helpful, but you could tell a lot of them were tired of being on “mask duty” and of wearing theirs all day as well. So, Cindy Lou, I feel your pain. Not only because of this one store, but just the “emptiness” in the air.

While I am not going to make this article about a mask debate, I am going to make a point that everything that has happened this year, has sadly affected Christmas as well. IF we think that this is all there is to the season.

You see, it is easy to get depressed and feel anxious as you look around and see all the discord and bickering among each other. This is when we must look deeper and remember WHY we celebrate Christmas. We celebrate this day as the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He came into this world on that cold night, born in a manger – no fancy hospital with nurses assigned to take care of Him and His mother. No nice warm bed for Mary. No recliner for Joseph to comfortably sleep while resting with Mary. He had no warm fuzzy entry into this world, but He did it for you and for me.

Without Him, we would have no reason to celebrate. There is a saying, “Jesus is the Reason for the Season” and I hope you genuinely believe that with all your heart and soul, this year especially. Let’s take the Joy from Jesus and share it with others. We must stop allowing the chaos of everything that has happened carry into this beloved time of the year when, normally, all our troubles would seem so far away.

How much better would the world be if we replaced anxiety with JOY; stress with feeling BLESSED; heartache with a HEART FULL of GIVING? We have all been through enough this year, so let’s make December the time when we enjoy seeing it through the eyes of our children, bake those cookies with Grandma, go hunting with Grandpa and smile at everyone we see. Even though our smiles will be covered when we are out in public, we can smile through our eyes.

We are all in this together, so together we can end this year with smiles, joy, and the warm feeling that we are all yearning for. Happy Birthday, Jesus. Merry Christmas to you and yours!