Introduction

Soon it will be Christmas. All around us the pace of life is quickening. Merchants are getting ready for crowds of holiday shoppers: there's new inventory to put on the shelves, turkeys to display and decorations to hang. Truckloads of evergreen trees will be arriving any day now. Letter carriers are beginning to notice the heavier volume of mail. They're seeing more of those telltale red or green envelopes. Some of us will be going to office parties or having friends over for Christmas celebrations. There are gifts to buy and rolls of wrapping paper and ribbon to purchase. Our lists of things to do are beginning to grow and grow.

For many people, however, there is a sense our Christmas festivities have gotten out of hand. For some it is because we spend so much money - nearly $40 billion each year! For others it's the lack of religious focus on a holiday designed to honor the birth of Jesus. For still others it's the hectic pace and constant demands on our time and patience that we've come to associate with this season.

You may be surprised to learn past generations were also concerned about Christmas celebrations. As far back as the fourth century preachers were telling their parishioners to "take it easy." In A.D. 380, for example, Gregory Nazianzus, a bishop (from the area now occupied by present day Turkey) who was known far and wide for his eloquent sermons, urged his flock to "not strive to outdo each other in excess," especially "while others are hungry and in need." It seems parishioners were spending vast sums of money on expensive gifts, clothing, foods and wine. To Gregory, people were missing the joy that comes from remembering whose birthday was being celebrated: "Run with the star, bear your gifts with the Magi. With Shepherds glorify Him; with Angels join in the chorus!"

According to legend, in the Middle Ages St. Francis helped his fellow citizens refocus their holiday merriment by creating the first creche. Shortly before Christmas in 1224, Francis went to a wealthy friend with a list of ingredients for a live manger scene: an ass, an ox, a feeding trough, hay, wood, etc. Volunteers helped with construction and when Christmas Eve finally came, the townspeople gathered round by candlelight. People sang carols and Francis gave a sermon about the birth of Jesus. One eyewitness was said to have remarked, "Simplicity was honored, humility commended - there was made, as it were, a new Bethlehem."

In North America, over the years, many people have tried to put constraints on Christmas celebrations. Two extreme attempts are worthy of special mention. The Puritans in Massachusetts thought it wise to outlaw the festival altogether. Not only was Christmas not mentioned in the Bible, but the way many people back home in England were observing the season horrified them: drinking, gambling, bowling and more! One preacher described Christmas as a "wanton Bacchanalian Feast." Wanting to prevent the same thing from happening in New England, in 1644 the Puritans passed an ordinance which read, "...anybody who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting or any other way, any such days as Christmas day, shall pay for every offence five shillings."

Three hundred years later a thrifty Michigan savings bank president decided to warn citizens of the dangers of excessive holiday spending and encourage everyone to keep their money in savings accounts. In 1949, on top of his bank building, he erected a very large billboard which condemned popular aspects of Christmas. In huge bold letters it commanded people to "Work - Earn - Save!"

Since 1973, Alternatives has encouraged people to refocus Christmas celebrations. In 1988 we published the first edition of Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway? At that time it was our sincere hope that this booklet would help people resist the pressures of Christmas commercialism and bring honor, humility and a different kind of generosity to the way we observe the season. This year our hope remains the same: that you experience the same joy Gregory Nazianzus longed for his parishioners to find. As the bishop said nearly sixteen centuries ago, "It is this which we are celebrating, the coming of God to humanity."

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