Be honest. Are you glad the holidays are over?
I asked this of my Sunday School class, and the answer I got was “yes.” It’s not that any of the holiday season is bad. But it is nice to get back to regularity sometimes.
How long does it take to remove Christmas decorations? Obviously this depends on how many decorations you put out, and whether you include both inside and outside decorations. My family is still taking stuff down and putting them in boxes and tubs for storage. And then there is the great holiday-vs.-winter decoration debate. Do you leave snowmen decorations out after Christmas? Do they belong with the holiday stuff or are they in a separate winter category? My fireplace mantle is currently filled with snowmen, and I see no reason to take them down until winter is over.
If you ask 10 different people when Christmas decorations should be taken down you might get 10 different answers. Some people leave the festive lights on throughout January. And others have them gone just a day or two after Christmas. I did some research on this and there seem to be two days that are the most common days for removing all the holiday decorations. These days are January 1st and January 6th. New Years Day seems obvious. People are looking for a fresh start and taking down the Christmas decorations makes sense then. January 6th is also popular because it marks the end of the Christmas season. It is the twelfth day of Christmas.
Do you feel sad after the holidays end? Many people do. I found one case study done where people simply searched through literature to see how many cases of depression or depression-related illness propped up during the holidays vs. right after the holidays ended. They found that right after the holiday the cases went up.
It is a big routine shift, isn’t it? We have parties and plans and special occasions in November and December, and in January we don’t have much to look forward to except the cold. If relatives came to visit you, how do you feel now that they are gone?
What about vacations? What is it like returning to work after a week of more of a vacation? There is usually a lot of things to catch up on, like email, assignments, etc. And then there is the whole shift due to your schedule. You might wake up at a different time while on vacation. You might eat differently, and go to sleep at a different time. Coming back to a work environment throws all of that off again as you readjust. Also, for most vacations you have more control over your routine. You decide what you are going to do and when you are going to do it. This is most likely not the case at work. Meetings are called and you have to attend. Deadlines loom. You have to match schedules of your managers.
This paradigm shift effect may be jarring for you, but just imagine what it would have been like for the early Israelites after leaving Egypt:
Exodus 15:22-27
22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) 24 So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
And here is another example:
Exodus 16:2-3
2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
You may be quick to judge the Israelites for complaining, but don’t disdain them too much. They were slaves in Egypt to be sure, but they knew their routine. And then one day a long lost “brother” comes back from exile claiming to be one of them who will lead them away from all of this. None of them were asked if they wanted to go. Suddenly terrible things start happening all around them. Water turns to blood. Flies and gnats appear. Cattle get sick. And then they are told to put animal’s blood on their door to avoid the death of their first born son. Finally, Egypt throws them out to go with this man only to change its mind and send an army after you. You escape with another miracle into a desert with little resources. And you are told to be happy.
Would this make you happy?
What is the appropriate response for us when things shift in our lives? What should we do when the holidays are over and we go back to normal life? Maybe it would help to see God in both the holiday time and the non-holiday time. That shouldn’t change, right? God is the same either way. And your relationship with God is the same too. The way you think about God remains the same. You still pray. You still worship. You still practice the kind of life you are meant to have.
In this way we can actually experience holiday living all the time, just without all of the secular stuff. We can be joyful regardless of season.
Happy After-Holidays
God Bless