INSTIGATING LOGIC
Birthdays and Christmas
By JARED PUTNAM

Since I was old enough to remember, I’ve always enjoyed Christmas time more than any other part of the year. This was especially true when I was a kid, waiting all year long to get birthday presents and Christmas presents. Whereas a lot of people had summer birthdays to help split up the year, mine falls at the end of the year and I ended up getting a lot of stuff at one time.

One of the funniest things I can remember about it is the fact that as a boy, I became cynical about relatives that would get something and say, “Here you go, this is for your birthday AND Christmas.” To which I sometimes wanted to respond with, “Great, thanks for taking advantage of the fact that my birthday falls eight days before Christmas just so you don’t have to invest in two presents.” Maybe that wasn’t the most appreciative thought that ever ran through my mind.

Thankfully I’ve matured (at least a little) and as I get older I tend to just appreciate it when people even remember that it is my birthday, though maybe someone going to the extent of advertising it in the newspaper isn’t altogether necessary.

Of course that’s nothing compared to what happened to a professor I had in college, whose friends dug up an old photo of him from a costume party (in which he had on a very extravagant costume) and ran it in the newspaper advertising his 40th birthday.

Besides, I’ll only have a few more before I start hitting the ones that start with a “3,” and after that I may not want anyone to remember when they come around.

I just can’t believe that in a few years I’ll actually be 30. It still feels strange to sometimes be addressed with “Yes, sir,” by high school kids, though it is equally weird that adults who don’t know me sometimes wonder if I’ve even hit 20 yet. I’ll probably appreciate that a lot more if I still look young enough to pass for 19 in another 10 years.

Sorry, I seem to be getting sidetracked. This was originally supposed to be a Christmas editorial. Time to get on track.

When it comes to Christmas I am just grateful that I haven’t managed to become cynical about it or get lost in the commercialization of the holiday.

Traditions are a big part of the holidays for many people, and likewise, there are certain things I always end up doing each year. With me, it’s a given that at some point I’ll end up watching “It’s a

Wonderful Life” and “A Christmas Story.” I will also find myself fighting the crowds at malls each year, and to some degree I even enjoy them. It can be a pain to push through them, but on some level it’s good to see so many people out trying to find something nice for someone they care about.

On the other hand, some things have changed. Rewind 20 years ago to this time of year and you would have found me busy detailing out my Christmas wish list. Actually, I think I usually started working on it in mid-July, and by this point I would just be hoping that Santa didn’t have any trouble fulfilling my requests or forget to stop by the Putnam house. After all, the guy does have a lot of stops to make. Out of all those millions of children you couldn’t blame him for missing a house or two.

These days I find myself getting enjoyment out of buying presents for my friends’ children. There’s no denying that I’ve also entered that safety-conscious parent-type of mode, where I end up going through the aisles eliminating possibilities, thinking to myself, “no, he could poke his eye out with that” or “he could choke on that.”

The great thing with kids is that you know one way or another whether or not they like the present you gave them. Whereas adults are bound by the obligation to say things like, “Oh, thank you, I can really use a pair of plaid socks,” kids are less inclined to practice the art of being tactful.

But as much as I like the movies, decorations, Christmas songs, giving and receiving of presents, and everything else that accompanies December 25th, the season is really about one thing, and contrary to what you tend to hear a lot, it is not the “spirit of giving.”

That is nice, and is something we should all do, both for the people we care about and those who are less fortunate. However, Christmas is not about that which we give to each other, but rather, the gift God gave to each one us in the birth of a savior.

Christmas is about Jesus Christ, and the celebration of a God that loved you and I enough to be born into this world, not in a palace or even an inn, but in the company of animals. It was a humble beginning to an earthly life that would change the world more than any other figure in history, and more importantly, offer the promise of an eternal life beyond it.

Merry Christmas indeed.