We're having great fun reading the shopping stuffers, oohing and aahing over the myriad toys, clothes, jewels, electronics and assorted bling blings vying for our hard-earned dollars this year. We can do that because precious little of those dollars will be spent on such items. We've always kind of downplayed the commercialism that Christmas has become. And Santa played out very early on. When the children were old enough to ask we were wise enough to reply, "Don't ask the question if you're not ready for the answer." They invariably withdrew the question and we never actually had to tell them who Santa really was.

Statisticians report that the average household will spend more than $700 on holiday gift giving. Just like in junior high, I find myself well below average.

No worries, though. When hearing the news, a co-worker exclaimed, "I'm already way past that and I'm not half done." I thanked her for taking up the slack.

I've been doing a little research this year, after the big to-do last year over keeping Christ in Christmas.

The results have been somewhat disturbing.

For years I have loved to decorate our tree with colored lights, tinsel and handmade ornaments, only to discover this year that tree decorating is more than 4,000 years old. Guess it has little to do with the birth of Christ.

Then I discover that, calculating the time of Mary's encounter with her cousin, Elizabeth, the best guess for the time that Jesus was born is September (easily my favorite month of the year).

I guess I've always understood that the selection of Dec. 25, as the day to commemorate the birth of the Christ child was initially an attempt to wed a pagan celebration with a Christian celebration, thus, presumably, overcoming evil with good.

Apparently it was doomed to failure, at least in these modern times when it is obviously more about giving and getting than it is about the wonder of God sending his Son to our frail care, to live among us, and to ultimately die to save us.

Paul warns us about such endeavors with his admonition in 2 Corinthians 6:14, "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?" Used primarily as a warning against marrying outside the faith, the admonition certainly has other applications as well.

Even discovering these facts, and many others related to other Christmas traditions, I found myself wondering, what harm can come? Surely, the Lord is nevertheless glorified.

Then it occurs to me. Maybe not. Maybe by taking this day, above all days, to set aside the wonder of the nativity, we run the risk of consigning our Savior forever to that lowly manger stall. He's safe there. And so are we. If we keep him small -- in perpetual infancy, then we never have to encounter the man himself. The one who, without hesitation, chastised the self-righteous, cleansed the temple, named sin (even those just born in the heart), and called people to repentance and righteousness. And it may obscure our view of the crucified Christ -- the wounds we laid on him with our sin.

It is, after all, much easier to gaze lovingly upon the unmarred flesh of a newborn, clean and wrapped in swaddling clothes. But if we obscure Christ on the cross, then we risk minimizing him on the morning of his resurrection -- his highest triumph.

For in the resurrection his sacrifice for our sin is accepted and the new life, lived here in fits and starts, is fulfilled for all who believe and call him Savior and King.

I'm not looking at Christmas the same way this year as I did last year. It's a big adjustment. Oh, I'm still gifting, after all, those I love I want to honor with a remembrance.

And I will give the infant Jesus that special place in every mother's heart, I will again sing the song the angels sang when they announced his birth. Just don't be surprised if it comes through as easily in May as it does December.

"She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21 (NIV)

Things you won't see in heaven:

Elves