Last year, I talked about a group called "Advent Conspiracy." They are an informal network of Christ-followers who are teaming together to try and re-interpret the celebration of Christmas in our culture. Their motto this year is "Give Presence." They want us to move away from giving useless gifts, and be more intentional about the ways that we show love, specifically by giving life to people who are materially very poor during the holiday season.

Now, admittedly, there's something egotistical about "re-interpreting" a worldwide holiday. I mean, who are THEY to tell me or anyone else how we should celebrate Christmas? It's really audacious. Kind of makes me mad.

Except... re-interpretation of existing symbols and practices is exactly how we got a big ol' bloated Santa Claus and a disproportionately consumer-based Christmas in the first place. The original historical St. Nicholas, a liberator of enslaved children, has morphed over the years, thanks in the 20th century to the work of eager ad execs, into an exuberant pitchman not only for junk, but for a whole lifestyle of buying things as a way of showing a deeper love and affection. Santa continues to represent some of our highest ideals: childhood innocence and selfless giving most notably; but Santa is also complicit in some of society's greatest challenges: materialism, corporate greed, and media saturation. Santa carries with him quite a bit of baggage! The point is that St. Nick didn't start like this--he's been shaped by people over the years, using his image to push their own holiday agenda.

Santa and Christmas itself have become battle zones in recent years, as different groups try to tell us how and why we should mark the holiday.

When the dust clears and the shouting dies down, I believe that holidays are much like the religions from which they sprout:  they have many different expressions, and it is up to us to discern which way of celebrating feels the most faithful to God and nourishing for our lives.

For me, Christmas is a key part of God's plan to turn the world upside-down and inside-out. For God to be born into the world, in a scene full of humility and love, in vulnerability and modesty--for me, this is the heart of Christmas.

This is why I am leaning more and more toward humble, hand-made Christmas gifts. Now, I know you can't hand-make a toaster, and sometimes nothing says "I love you" like a toaster, but let me encourage you to make something by hand for every person on your list this year. It's doesn't have to be exotic--maybe just a hand-drawn card with a hand-written personal message. But giving something from your hands expresses the humility, modesty, and self-giving love that is at the heart of Christmas. Try it. You might see something in the holiday that you haven't before.

May your season be filled with glitter and glue, baking and knitting, free verse and heartfelt letters.