I had just finished ordering our annual sheaf of seasonally tacky and nicely inexpensive Christmas cards–my three-year-old on a carousel in various stages of glee, below her a wish for joy to the world and peace in 2009 and all that stuff–when I received a link to Father Jim Martin’s annual Scrooge-fest on NPR. Titled “More Virgin Mary, Less Virgin Islands” (it came out on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception), Jim grumbles (well, in his very congenial way) about Christmas cards from even pious friends that have no Christmas scene but rather “a photo of a family on some beach in the Caribbean. Or a picture of somebody’s house. Or someone’s dog wearing reindeer horns.” He continues:

Look, I love family photos during the holidays. Plus, I actually read those annual holiday letters, all of which start with “What a busy year it’s been!” Seeing photos of my friends and their families and even enjoying a few sunny beach scenes when it’s cold and dark outside is a highlight of December.
But I enjoy the photos more when they’re inside the card, not the card itself. Because more and more, even devout Christians have been replacing Jesus, Mary and Joseph with themselves. Doesn’t it strike you as weird to set aside the Holy Family in favor of your family? Does a photo of Cabo San Lucas trump the story told by the original San Lucas? Is Christmas really about you?

I guess we all have our pet peeves. I tend (well, it’s more like an iron-clad reaction) to roll my eyes at those family newsletters that recount how wonderful the past year has been for them, and all the great places they went and things they bought. Our family used to sit around the dinner table coming up with our sad-sack tales (all too true) that we’d write up and send out the next Christmas. We never did, but it was fun to contemplate. And I must say, receiving the occassional card from justifiably proud new parents but with the phrase, “For unto us a child is born…” on the top makes me wince more than a bit.
Still, I think the good Jesuit is being a bit Jansenist. (And he is younger than I am. Barely.) Christmas has always been as much about family and secular festivities as it has been a strictly solemn, religious feast. I’ll admit that it wasn’t until I lived in Rome that I finally realized, during a holiday largely shorn of Santa-mania, that I came to truly appreciate Easter and place it in a proper context with Christmas. And as a single fellow with access to the Vatican Tipografia I could get their really awesome Christmas cards–high-quality, with boffo art from the in-house collection, and cheap.
But now life is different, and I like sending out a holiday card with my kid on it. In fact, I just sent one to Jim Martin, just to spite him. But I did use one of those lovely Botticelli Madonna and Child stamps (with John the Baptist this year).