by Caitlin La Ruffa
A million ads, made-for-TV movie specials, and even guilt-inducing texts from relatives conspire to send a unified message: this is the time of year to be with family. Sentimental movies teach us that family – and the love, warmth, and closeness that attend it – is the “reason for the season” or the “true meaning” of the holiday (as opposed to decorations and shopping).
For those of us celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25th that message is confusing and seems to miss the mark. (I remember watching The Grinch as a kid and being amazed that somehow the sound of presentless, singing Whos coming up over Mount Crumpit was enough to teach the Grinch the entire Christmas story, from the fall in the Garden of Eden to the Nativity of Christ in Bethlehem until years later I realized that probably wasn’t the “true meaning of Christmas” that Dr. Suess was referring to.)
Nonetheless, this is – happily, I might add – a time when we do long to come together as family, to return to childhood homes full of warm memories, and partake in the traditions that have been with us our whole lives. For all of us, this season serves as a reminder of a simple, profound truth: lifelong, faithful, life-giving love matters, and so we crave it. Even those of us who live most of the year as if family doesn’t matter. Even those of us who work to make the protective cradle of the family a thing of the past.
After the year we’ve experienced, when the foundation of family life has been legally overturned, when the political left and right seem pulled to opposite poles, when those of us who affirm the truth about marriage feel more and more alienated from our brothers and sisters who don’t share our understanding, I’m grateful for this season and its sentiment. This universal desire to return home to the loving arms of our families – simply because they are family – is a beautiful testament to the truth that’s been written on our hearts, whether or not we know its there.
From all of us at the Love and Fidelity Network, we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas!
Caitlin La Ruffa is the Director of the Love and Fidelity Network.
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