Even as we're facing down the start of second semester, even as we "grown-ups" have already headed back to work, even as the stores around us are selling all Christmas items at 75% off while making room for their Valentine's Day displays, we as Christians (and litugically-minded Christians, at that!) have the opportunity and privilege to remember that Christmas isn't just a day, but rather a season...and a season that isn't over until Friday (which is Epiphany, our next church season of light, revelation, and the good news of Christ for all the world).

Professor and author Richard Beck has written an especially thoughtful blog post about Christmas-as-season, entitled, simply, "It's Still Christmas." It is certainly worth a few minutes to follow the link and read the entire post!

He encourages us to

resist the cultural push to be productive and "get Christmas up" as soon as possible. Leave the tree and the Nativity set out. Let's slow down and prayerfully linger. Yes, well into the New Year. Let the kids learn that Christmas cannot be reduced to the one hour when they opened their presents. Christmas isn't over. We're still in the middle of it.

So even if you're back at work, or back at school, or have otherwise stepped back into the usual routine of life, be sure to come home in the evening and eat those last few Christmas cookies, or even bake a few more if you're running low! Keep those lights up for a few more days, and sing a few more carols around the piano. Make a couple more fires in the fireplace and dedicate them to family evenings of retelling the Christmas story, watching the Christmas movies you haven't gotten around to watching, and playing with your new Christmas toys. For, as Beck reminds us, "it's still Christmas!"