My issue with Christmas

This is a bit of controversial topic given that people feel as passionately about Christmas as they do with the pronunciation of the word "scone" (if you pronounce it 'scon' you are wrong.) But I'm not dissing Christmas at all in fact I am a big supporter of merriment, pigs in blankets and rampant capitalism, but there is one big thing that I don't like about this festivity and that is the representation of Jesus and the nativity scene. (Disclaimer: I am not myself a Christian, but still appreciate this festive time of joy and hope)

Now, we all pretty much know the nativity as if it were our own personal history given that most of us did it as our primary school Christmas play and either got to be the envy of the entire school and play either Joseph or Mary, or got to be Lamb #3 and enjoy a non-speaking role. But the issue that I have with it is how the nativity is represented. Picture the nativity in your head, right now. You probably see three wise men in flowing robes bringing a veritable bounty of gifts, there are a couple of shepherds who are just kind of there and don't further the plot, there's a heavenly host singing hallelujah (either that or the author of the bible was drunk) and of course there's our three protagonists: Jospeh the carpenter, Mary the virgin mother (because screw biology) and the baby Jesus, usually represented wearing some form of glowing disc on his head. In this image we see grandeur, might and the birth of the King of the Jews. Everyone is clean, everyone is well dressed and the artist interpretations show this birth to be a most splendid and almost pompous event. Now this is all very well and good and looks nice on a Christmas card (or a tattoo if you're hardcore) but does this not miss the point of Christmas entirely?

I am aware that the meaning of Christmas has been slightly lost already given that instead of celebrating the birth of our saviour we celebrate a fat man entering our houses in the middle of the night, drinking our sherry and then leaving without a trace besides several generous presents. But in particular with this glamorisation of the nativity, I think that we lose a really crucial part Christmas and this is the celebration of family and also humble beginnings.

I shall start with the latter. So, for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past two millennia (seriously, where have you been?) Jesus is God incarnate (the human embodiment of God or the Son of God, as he is known by his pals) who goes around the place healing people and spreading a message of hope, peace and justice. He is then killed for his views before then pulling a Gandalf on everyone and coming back to life. But I think the most remarkable thing about the life of Jesus is his humble lifestyle. He never personally takes on the title 'King of the Jews', he never dresses up and spends his days in rags and he talks with ordinary people and helps them rather than helping himself. Whether you believe in Christ or not, this is a powerful image of selflessness, hope, peace and family spirit. Yet when we depict Jesus as this God-like character (I am aware of the irony in saying this) we almost lose this image of him being our brother, our personal saviour. Instead he is this detached character that deserves the admiration of wise men, angels and random shepherds who, weirdly enough, are the only ones who seem to have noticed this giant damn star that is above the front door of the stable. But that's the point, this entire story takes place in a stable, not a palace, not a hospital, a stable. There is not a more humble place to be born. And yet we depict it as some grand event and I think we have got that wrong, instead we should celebrate the humbleness of Jesus and how he brought peace and hope through the most lowly beginnings.

The next point is that we lose this idea of family. Jesus, despite being the almighty, is born into a normal family and the message that he himself spread was one of family and being a decent neighbour. Yet we don't see that in any artist depiction of the nativity scene. Instead we see some staged pantomime of condescension and deference to the baby Jesus. This is not very Jesus-y if you ask me.

Therefore, at Christmas I think it is important to remember where we actually got this celebration from. Christian or not, we can all appreciate that Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, loving and hoping and above all else: family.

So go buy them something nice.