“For unto a child is born, to us a child is given…” Isaiah 9:6

(Reprinted and revised from Dec. 2010) It’s true, Scrooge is as alive and well in the 21^st century as he was in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. A brief visit to the internet will reveal an abundance of Scrooge attitudes (“Christmas is for fools!”) among bloggers and people who feel the need to express their enlightened opinions. I doubt there has been any time like today where the abundance of Christmas humbugs exist with a platform for them to express their ignorance.

As discouraging as it is to hear these attitudes expressed, I remain encouraged by glimmers of hope expressed among many of our young families today. In fact, my wife and I just returned from a Fatherhood CoMission conference where we were blessed by young fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers who are passionately intentional about teaching and training their children to know and walk in the truth. It was encouraging to hear the testimony of Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger (19 Kids and Counting)

, for example, who are impacting millions as they model this intentionality through television.

Several years ago, Diane and I were part of a major Christmas production in our church built around Dicken’s Christmas classic, A Christmas Carol. I remember as we were preparing for one night’s performance, the music from Charlie Brown’s Christmas was being played. Several teens commented how much they loved the TV special and its music each year. In fact, it is one of their favorites. I was intrigued because Charlie Brown’s Christmas is such a simple, low-tech program in a high-tech world. Yet, the profound message of the real meaning of Christmas continues to prove relevant for all times, even among our youth.

Now that the Christmas season is in full swing, this would be a perfect time to sit down with the family and friends and view Charlie Brown’s Christmas again. Our lives are significantly more embroiled in frenzied living and commercialization than when this little TV cartoon first made its appearance more than 45 years ago. It is a wonderful reminder to us of what Christmas is really all about. We dare not allow our children and grandchildren to lose sight of this important reality…that “unto a child is born, to us a Son is given…and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

There will always be Christmas humbugs among us. If Christmas means nothing more than the commercial blood-letting of consumers’ bank accounts, I fear we shall all become like Scrooge and miss the joy and blessing of a simple, yet world-changing reality—the birth of our Savior. To all the modern artificial trappings that distract us from what Christmas really is, I say “Bah, humbug!” But in view of the simple truth of Luke 2, I say to all, “Merry Christmas! God bless us every one!”