Question 11 - How to Prepare for Christmas
Father, how should we prepare for Christmas?
The first way to prepare for Christmas is to «prepare the way of the Lord» by spiritual preparation. Doing everything we can to abandon our sins and convert to Christ by living a new life, one of perfect observance of the Commandments. Living in the presence of God by remembering what he did for us through the Mystery of His Incarnation and trying to comply with what he wants us to do in our lives.
As for material preparation, we can always use the four candles of Advent (3 purple and 1 rose) and light them up during family prayers as follows: first week, light up a purple candle; second week, light up two purple ones; third week, light up two purple ones and the rose one; fourth week: light up the three purple ones and the rose one. Each new week starts on Saturday night at 5:00pm, the hour of 1st Vespers.
An important thing is to avoid falling into the commercial folly of modern Christmas. Christmas has been transformed into a materialistic feast, thus destroying its spiritual aspect. Advent is a time of penance to prepare for Christmas, not a time to celebrate it in advance. We should not listen to Christmas music before Christmas, nor put up decorations too early. The week before Christmas seems appropriate for decorating one’s home. Then, leave these decorations for a while (at least until January 13th) instead of removing them the day after Christmas as many people do. There is nothing wrong with decorations and Christmas tree, provided that they do not take over the Manger that each family should try to have in his home. Put the Manger at the most important place, and not the Christmas tree.
The modern Santa Claus (Père Noël) has nothing to do in Catholic Families, as it is part of an attempt to remove Christ from Christmas.
