Chad Pecknold , associate professor, theology, published an essay on the joy of Christmas in First Things. See below.
From: First Things Date: Dec. 24, 2014 Author: C. C. Pecknold
... My own sense is that Christians wring their hands a bit too much over Christmas. They worry about Santa and the rest. We Christians can look like theological scrooges rather than celebrants of a sumptuous medieval feast that has the power to captivate a whole culture. We can forget how deeply attractive Christmas is to people. Christmas is beautiful, it is joyful, it is charitable. It speaks to everyone's desire to be happy, and also speaks to their awareness-however dull-that their happiness cannot be manufactured, it can only be given as a gift. Despite all the confusions of secularizing commercial culture, the joyful mystery of Christmas still attracts. ...
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