Artistic Significance: Take a minute to make a Grown-Up Christmas List

Heading into Christmas, I’m not a big fan of most carols. They’re pretty, but really only get played in my home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with two notable exceptions; Christmas in America by Melissa Etheridge and Grown-Up Christmas List by Amy Grant.
These two are in my playlist all year long, even if they don’t come up very often.
I first heard Grown-Up Christmas List as a teenager when it was performed at our church’s Christmas Eve service.
However, when my mom was posting Christmas songs on Facebook leading up to the big day this year, it was one I had to recommend. Listening to it again, I think it’s an even more important message in 2020.
“As children we believed; The grandest sight to see; Was something lovely; Wrapped beneath the tree; But Heaven only knows; That packages and bows; Can never heal; A hurting human soul.”
As great as it is to receive presents for Christmas, there are bigger things in the world than a new toy or mug.
It’s important to remember that Christmas for many is a privilege.
We see it every year with projects like Operation Christmas Child, Shop with a Hero and the numerous giving trees that pop up in stores, places of work and public communities; there are people out there who can’t afford presents for their families.
However, these programs have needed more help this year as families who lost their jobs with the COVID-19 pandemic and the following financial crisis try to maintain some normalcy for their kids this holiday.
Efforts from people like Ron, who opened up his tree farm this year so people could come get a Christmas tree for free, matter even more this year. He encouraged those who could to donate to the Boys and Girls Club of Poplar Bluff or St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital.
However, he recognized it’s been a hard year for many people and not everybody who needed a tree for their family could afford to give away any money.
“If paying for that tree is going to take Christmas presents away from their children, we’d rather they keep the money and have their good Christmas,” he said.
Plus, organizations such as the United Rescue Gospel Mission that fed several thousand people Christmas dinner, FosterAdopt Connect that helped those in the foster system receive presents, the Make-A-Wish foundation that gave a boy with Fern’s Syndrome a puppy and the students who raised money for Project Christmas Promise or held food collection drives.
These groups help every day to make our grown-up Christmas lists a reality.
As people grow up, they realize how harsh the world can be for people of all walks of life. We help others because if the roles were reversed, we’d want them to help us.
The point of a grown-up Christmas list is to recognize the things we’d like to change in the world. There’s no man dressed all in red to make these things a reality. These are things we as a society need to work toward every day of the year.
But the Christmas season is a good time to reaffirm our belief in them and dedication to working for them.
While this year’s grown-up Christmas lists are likely comprised of hope that the pandemic will end, that the country will recover from its financial crisis and that people will be able to reach across the aisle to work together, there’s also items on the list that are there every year.
“No more lives torn apart; that wars would never start; that time would heal all hearts; that everyone would have a friend; that right would always win; and love would never end.”