It would appear that Christmas is behind us for another year. Already I’ve heard the sentiment of relief – thank God it’s over, now let’s move onto the next thing. What can we look forward to next? What surprises will be thrown in there, along the way, to keep life interesting?

Have you noticed that items most cherished before Christmas – items that you’d pay top dollar for, at all cost, to get your hands on – suddenly become deeply discounted, reduced for quick sale, written off or simply discarded as trash. What a difference a day makes.

The $40 live Christmas tree, has dried up, dropped its needles, and become a fire hazard in the home. That is, of course, assuming that it made it into the home. For the $40 trees that didn’t sell, they’re heading for the wood chipper. That tree’s life became meaningless, simply reduced to mulch.

It seemed that this Christmas season was filled with some surprise and sadness. The week before Christmas I attended two funerals. Packing funerals into a busy season is really difficult, because the worldliness inside of each of us says: I don’t have time to die, much less tend to someone’s family who has lost a loved one. And besides, the season is supposed to be upbeat and festive. Dropping a funeral or two in there is putting a dent on Christmas joy, and what the season is all about. Or, is it?

Perhaps the problem with Christmas is that everyone expects that the season should be nothing but joyful and joy filled. And that is why Christmas cannot sustain itself. It would be a wonderful world if the joyful spirit of Christmas could and would last year round. But each of us knows that we can’t sustain such greatness the whole year through. Eventually, we’ll break down, and say, enough, time to move on. When the going gets tough, it’s time to bail.

But my heart says, not so fast. Have we gotten all that there is to get out of Christmas, or is there more to discover and ponder? There’s a reason for everything. Throwing in a funeral or two in the holiday season really puts one’s whole life into perspective. Nobody’s life should be deep discounted. As I listened to the eulogies, I could only think: What a difference a life can make.

As Christmas day has come and gone, and all efforts are being made to wipe away signs of Christmas and move on, I cannot help but think: Have we sold ourselves short on the season? Have we deep discounted Christ’s gift to the world? What do we really say when we pack a church at Christmas, but have no desire to return to church the next week?

OK, so the baby’s been born, but now, who wants to do the hard part – change diapers, raise the child to adulthood and maybe even die doing it. Then what? Life is filled with surprises, curve balls and mysteries in which only God knows.

Two funerals right before Christmas remind me to welcome and embrace life more completely. To welcome completely the birth of Jesus as a loving gift is to accept death as a part of life. To stop at the birth of Christ, and put Christmas away for another year, is to miss the whole point of life.

Christ leads us through birth, life, death and resurrection. There is a sacredness in the cycle of human life at all of the stages. Every person that you meet – young, old, lively, handicapped, gifted, challenged, healthy, diseased – is a life worth exploring, and should never to be discounted.

The Christmas season has only just begun. It started Dec. 25 and runs for 12 days – right into the new calendar year. There’s still plenty of time to ponder the gift of Christ, and to resolve to spend more time with the people you love in your life.

Happy New Year!