by Kathy Mildred

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of the most famous and enduring Christmas stories in the world. In fact, it’s almost impossible to hear the words ‘Bah, humbug!’ and not think of miserly old Scrooge, sitting in his cold counting house, making life miserable for himself and his hapless clerks. 'Scrooge' is a word that has entered our language; it probably did so as soon as this story, so well loved for over 150 years, was published.

Scrooge learned the hard way how to enjoy Christmas — and found forgiveness in the process, courtesy of the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. What these ghosts showed him convinced him to mend his ways and become a kind and charitable person, indeed almost a portrait of a good Christian soul.

We, however, already know the great joy that the birth of our Saviour brings — the gift of eternal life. Our ‘ghosts’ of Christmas won’t be terrifying like poor Scrooge’s, but I’m sure they’ll show us something worthwhile about what Christmas means to God’s people. Let’s take a leaf out of Scrooge’s book and look at how some Christians celebrate Christmas — Past, Present and Yet to Come.

Christmas Past

Dorothy Hamilton lives in suburban Melbourne but was born and raised in the 1930s in the Lutheran Mallee town of Pella, outside Rainbow in western Victoria. ‘I’m a Nuske by birth, so our Christmases were very German’, she recalls. ‘There was only one family in our farming district that wasn’t Lutheran — we used to feel really sorry for them, especially at Christmas.’

Lutheran Christmas in the Mallee was very family-oriented, with the Christmas Eve service being especially aimed at the children.

‘We went to church on Christmas Eve — that’s the “real” Christmas time for Germans — then again on Christmas Day and then on Boxing Day, which we called Second Christmas Day (I’m not sure why). Christmas was exclusively a religious festival then, not commercial like it is nowadays.

‘We lived on a farm and we’d have a light tea on Christmas Eve — bread and sausage — before going into town for church. The children would all be up the front and the pastor would examine us on the Christmas story; all the way from the Old Testament through to the New Testament. Everyone had been given answers to learn in advance — even the little ones. The older children got harder questions and had to provide very long and detailed answers. The littlies would be asked something like, “Where was Jesus born?” and they’d answer, “In a barn”. It was like an examination in a way; it was our public catechism.

‘Church was a lot different back then: you were expected to know about your beliefs and you were also expected to be able to stand up in public and articulate them. Church was much stricter then: you believed what you were told and you did what you were told!’ she said, giggling.

‘Interspersed through all these questions were lovely hymns: Silent Night, Little Children Can You Tell, O Christmas Tree — old German songs, really, but we sang them in English. People were great singers in those days. We often used to meet in people’s houses and sing hymns around the piano — it was a lovely tradition.’

Food played a big part in the Nuske family celebrations. ‘Christmas was always so hot in the Mallee, so we had cold food for Christmas dinner; I loved it. I can still remember my mum’s trifles, full of jelly and sponge cake. She was a fantastic cook — all the farm wives were in those days. And then there’d be the turkey we’d raised during the year, and in the salads all the vegies we’d grown: potato, beetroot, lettuce and cucumber.

‘Mum also used to make special spice biscuits at Christmas — tins and tins of them — and kuchen with streusel on the top — butter and sugar — oh, I loved it! It was my favourite. Mum baked her own bread, too, and then she’d cook the kuchen. The kitchen used to smell so lovely. It smelled like Christmas. I’ll never forget that smell.’

Christmas Present

‘Ah, Christmas’, Alison sighed, looking a bit wistful. ‘Christmas, yay!’ yelled eight-year-old Simon as he tore through the room, a long rope of tinsel trailing along the ground behind him.

‘We have a lot of Christmas rituals’, said Alison, ‘or at least things we do every year because they make our family happy. It just wouldn’t be Christmas for Simon if we left anything out.’

Christmas kicks off early for the Hunter Patersons with a Christmas-tree decoration party with neighbours. The kids run around, pretending to decorate the tree but actually making as much mess as possible. The adults meanwhile drink champers and talk.

‘We’re Christian, but our neighbours are not, so we don’t make a big fuss of the religious side of the festival when they’re here. It’s important to respect our neighbours' beliefs — they’re not into the religious meaning, but they know we are, and we can have a grown-up, sensible conversation about it’, she said.

‘Simon is praying now; he prays for all sorts of things — homeless people, his friends at school. It’s important to us that he grows up knowing his Christian roots.’

The family’s Christmas Day actually starts on Christmas Eve with the Children’s Carol Service at the church. Then Christmas Day is a gathering of the Hunter family at Alison’s parents’ house, complete with presents, crackers and food galore. ‘Every year I make an enormous dish — and I mean enormous — of Tiramisu. It’s my favourite. I eat about half of it and the family gets the rest’, she laughed.

‘If we’re lucky … ‘ her husband John chimed in.

The next day, they get up and do it all again, this time on John’s side. ‘If there’s any Tiramisu left, we take that over, and if not, I just have to make some more’, Alison laughed again.

‘I actually find Christmas a difficult time of year: the work, the people, the presents, the rigmarole. Sometimes I don’t feel very connected to the Christian meaning at all. I think I engage more with Easter as a Christian festival than Christmas — it hasn’t been hijacked yet by consumerism.

‘But Christmas is a great time to share some happiness with family and friends.’

Christmas Yet to Come

Adam and Rebecka Colldunberg and little two-year-old Tevye are eagerly awaiting the birth of baby number two in early December. Christmas is an important festival in the Colldunberg house, largely due to Rebecka’s upbringing.

‘Mum’s German, so Christmas is a really big cultural thing for her and for us’, she said. Christmas wasn’t just a one-day affair for Rebecka growing up; there was something planned for the entire Advent season.

‘Mum read an Advent story to us every night, and this is a tradition I’ve already started with Tevye’, she said.

‘I love the "family-ness" of Christmas, if I can put it that way. Our whole family gets together to celebrate, and now our children will be part of that, too.’

Raised by a Lutheran mother and a Jewish father, Rebecka's family had no room for Santa in their God-centred house. ‘Growing up, we didn’t have Santa, and I’m not going to teach my kids about him either. I think it’s a bit risky really — what happens when children find out that Santa isn’t real? I think it can really challenge their faith. If parents lie to their children about Santa, how are they are expected to trust their parents about God and Jesus?’ Rebecka said.

This can make trips to the shops a bit difficult, because Santa is everywhere. Rebecka handles it by explaining to Tevye that not all people believe the same things in our multi-faith society. ‘I tell him that some mums and dads believe in Santa, but we don’t — just like some people wear burkas but we don’t. It’s all about cultural diversity, and we teach our children about our culture.’

Not surprisingly, food is a big part of Christmas for the family. ‘We have gingerbread houses, potato pancakes with apple sauce, and heaps of smoked salmon and cream cheese. Then there are stews and sausages, sauerkraut, mountains of bread — so much food! Because we celebrate all through Advent, there’s a special dinner each Sunday where the family gets together. There’s always someone in the family hosting a meal sometime in the month.’

Christmas trees and nativity scenes also feature heavily in the Colldunberg home.

‘We have a different plant each year, and I’m very pedantic about the decorations — they must be German!’ she laughed. ‘The Germans invented Christmas decorations, so I reckon they know how to make them.

‘And we have four nativity sets. They are all so beautiful — but it does make our house look like a toy shop!

‘For us, Christmas is a festival, not just one day’, Rebecka said. ‘The main thing we want our children to know about Christmas is that it is about God’s miracles — there are no limits to what he can do. We want them to know about how powerful and incredible God really is’, she said.

Family, food and faith. These are the things that matter to all these Christmas families — the things that make Christmas such an important part of the landscape of our lives. This Christmas, may the joy of our Saviour’s birth be with all our families as we share food, fellowship and the faith that saves everyone of us, even Uncle Scrooge.

Kathy Mildred is a Melbourne mum of four, St Paul’s Box Hill member, and newly qualified business and Christian Studies teacher.