Among Christians, there are no ifs, buts, ands, or maybes. Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus. This Holy Birth is the reason for the holidays, plain and simple.
The phrase plain and simple means, essentially or fundamentally so, without exaggeration or elaboration.
In our home, we try hard to take this phrase literally—the birth of Christ was plain (no fuss) and simple (no fanfare). We celebrate it with the least fuss or fanfare.
We attend a solemn Christmas service (online for the second year) then break bread late in the evening, after which we open utilitarian* gifts, others given months before**, for each other.
This year, as the country gears up for the presidential election, I discovered that "plain" is interchangeable with "pink," the campaign color of VP Leni Robredo.
Pink has been defined as volunteerism and giving of self. Because Leni lacks resources, supporters have been donating time, money, food, materials, and energy for the benefit of other people in the community. What a spirit of social responsibility without expectations of any reward!
Volunteerism can't be anything but love, the color of Christmas.
Love has been most palpable after Typhoon Odette left many areas in total ruin—homes and crops are either flattened or swept away; people have perished or are gravely hurt; and hearts are in grief or broken.
On Christmas eve, grace overflowed. We had a home-delivered lunch, a gift from son #2 and family who live faraway. For dinner, we partook of a roasted turkey (this 30-year family tradition is good for three meals), a charcuterie board from a friend, and some go-withs in place of rice. The 13-pound bird is son #1's gift and the preps plus roasting are son #3's.
The other presents in pink (photos below) are from nieces and other kin.
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*I knew son #1 would give me another translation of the chronological Bible this year. But was I suprised when I opened his present: a chronological Life Application Study Bible!
**My printer died on me in the middle of a book draft. I panicked; I needed a quick replacement, but I was broke. My knight in shining armor, Tony, bought me a new one and said, "That's my early Christmas gift for you.
"Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6 (NLT)
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