Lewis on Christmas

Posted by John
December 16, 2007

Ben Witherington has a great post on C.S. Lewis’s views on Christmas. Here’s part of a quote from Lewis’ “God In The Dock.” Lewis has said that he approves of a) the religious observance of Christ’s birth, and b) Christmas as an occasion for joy and merrymaking, including simple gifts like Scrooge sending Bob Cratchit a turkey. But he’s less keen on c) giving of expensive gifts, and the commercialization of Christmas in general:

You have only to stay over Christmas with a family who seriously try to ‘keep’ it (in its third, or commercial, aspect) in order to see that the thing is a nightmare. Long before December 25th everyone is worn out — physically worn out by weeks of daily struggle in overcrowded shops, mentally worn out by the effort to remember all the right recipients and to think out suitable gifts for them. They are in no trim for merry-making; much less (if they should want to) to take part in a religious act. They look far more as if there had been a long illness in the house.

Faith,

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  • I've been thinking about this lately, and not just because of the season. I've been increasingly slanted towards making a real effort to reduce the amount of stuff I own and consume. I'm trying to do more stuff for myself -- cooking at home, and the like, and hanging out places besides malls. Decreasing one's holiday materialism can be difficult to do alone; family and friends, especially children, expect gifts, and one can't always expect everyone to be satisfied with handmade items, or other simple gifts. It's not always easy to make appropriate gifts, either, if one's skills are limited.
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