Christmas for Cowboys

“Tall in the saddle, we spend Christmas Day,
driving the cattle over snow covered-plains.
All of the good gifts given today,
ours is the sky and the wide open range…
…a campfire for warmth as we stop for the night,
the stars overhead are Christmas tree lights.
The wind sings a hymn as we bow down to pray,
It's Christmas for cowboys, wide-open plains…”

-John Denver,
Christmas for Cowboys

Perhaps you are up early and reading this or perhaps you are relaxing in your easy chair as the afternoon meanders by. Either way, I hope you are warm and comfortable. Warm and comfortable were not part of the job description for the American cowboy and they were not part of the journey for Mary and Joseph on their way to Bethlehem that first Christmas.

Let’s set the scene. You are nine months pregnant and traveling by donkey. At the end of your journey, the only thing for certain is that you have no place to stay. It is getting dark and cold, so you take refuge in a manger. You surround yourself with animals to help keep warm. Oh, then there is the whole having a baby thing. All I can say is that Mary was one tough cookie.

Fast forward 2011 years and here we are. The hustle and bustle of Christmas should pretty much be over by now. If you are like me, you might have even taken inventory of your gifts. As a kid, I remember neatly piling up all the wonderful presents I got and then feeling a little tinge of sadness that Christmas was kind of over for that year. The afternoon light was usually fading and the Christmas meal had begunto digest. A winter nap was next and then maybe one more viewing of “It’s a Wonderful Life”.

Somewhere along the line, going to see a movie at a theatre became a tradition on Christmas night. I guess the Christmas day movie is like watching football games on Thanksgiving. We all can take only so
much of our family and relatives before we need to escape with a good diversion.

That reminds me of that Christmas special of the little boy who wants a BB gun for Christmas. His family ends up at a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner because the neighbor’s dogs storm their house and devour their Christmas turkey. Thus another Christmas tradition was started for some, going out for Chinese on Christmas night.

And yet when it is all said and done, perhaps Linus of the Peanuts cartoon was right when he concisely breaks down what Christmas is all about to a frustrated Charlie Brown:

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid ...

And the angel said unto them, "Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ, the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

-Linus Van Pelt