Two down . . .

The Chicago Chamber Choir Christmas concerts are finally over! Other than Christmas Eve service at church, I'm done singing for the season.

With just under one week left until Christmas, I can finally relax and enjoy the season a little bit.

I've baked 6 batches of cookies (each batch yields around 108 cookies), mailed four packages, sent out about 25 Christmas cards, given one lovely dinner party and now sung two concerts. Oh, yeah, there's also the whole work thing. The past two days I've been running on adrenaline and stimulants (only the legal variety, thank you very much!) so I'm looking forward to things winding down as the Feast of the Nativity approaches.

Some years getting ready for Christmas feels like giving birth. I'm sure Mary would agree. Nonetheless, it's still my favorite time of year from a purely secular point of view. It fascinates me that some of my Evangelical Christian brothers and sisters fail to understand that Christmas is, liturgically, a rather insignificant holiday. It kills me how people, seemingly in the same breath, rail against the expression "Happy Holidays" because it is an attack on their religion yet cancel their church services because Christmas happens to fall on a Sunday this year.

So, in the quest to put the Christ back in Christmas, it's okay to take the Christ out of Sunday?

This week my only goal is to put the charge back in "Charge! (it!)" as I wrap up my holiday shopping. I plan on taking strolls down State Street and Michigan Avenue, soaking up the holiday ambience as I go. There's just nothing quite like Christmas in big-city America. Resplendent capitalism at its holiday best; is anything else so uniquely American?