Thank-Mas

November 27th, 2006 |

For years now the Lewis family has been celebrating a family tradition that I have recently started referring to as THANK-MAS. As the name would imply, it is a cross between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Simply put, we celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with my side of the family all on the same weekend. This was not always the case. For years we would make the trip twice within a month’s time to celebrate the two holidays separately. At some point in the history of this celebration, it hit me that we were doing more traveling than celebrating. So much time was spent packing and unpacking that we seemed to have very little time to enjoy Christmas at home. I eventually broached the subject with my mom, and although she was disappointed she understood, and a new tradition began – THANK-MAS. Now even that tradition is giving way to the times, as my own children and their significant others are finding it hard to go to Tennessee every Thanksgiving. For them, THANK-MAS may have to occur every other year. The point for all of us today is that traditions change – truth DOES NOT – but tradition does. A lack of flexibility around the holidays can not only make you miserable, but those around you. The true meaning of Christmas is not about when or where, or even how, you enjoy the holidays; but rather, it is about a Savior who entered this world and went to the cross that we might know what it is to be called the children of God. Amen and Amen.

Happy Thank-mas,