“Would you like to upsize your order?” If you have ever been to a fast food restaurant you have heard this phrase. For a nominal fee you can have more fries and more of your favourite beverage with your meal. Upsize, is it truly a word? The answer is yes. Upsize means ‘to make or become greater or larger’.

Most often we associate the word upsize with food, but has anyone else noticed that the commercialism of Christmas is being upsized yearly? The shopping centers have been decorated for Christmas since October. While shopping for Halloween treats you could also purchase a Christmas tree. Marketers have packed store shelves with chocolates, gift sets and wrapping paper, months before Christmas to entice shoppers to start gift buying early. Some of us do start shopping early, but we don’t always finish early. We continue to buy, buy, buy until December 24, fighting our way through crowds of people for last minute trimmings. Not only are the shopping centers cashing in earlier but the financial institutions are also advertising their services in plenty of time so that we will have more than enough money to shop to our hearts content. Our mailboxes become homes for hassle free credit applications and perfect gift ideas! Commercial Christmas is indeed upsizing!

I don’t know about anyone else, but this year as I attempt to shop something inside of me is shouting “this is not what Christmas is about.” What I value in my heart is not matching up with my actions at the shopping mall and it is causing conflict within. So how do I avoid this conflict? The only solution I have found is to focus on the true meaning of this beautiful holiday, the birth of Jesus.

The bible tells us in Matthew 1 that Jesus was born in a stable. Jesus, God’s own Son, was born in the smelly living quarters of livestock. There were no crowds there, a few shepherds (societies lower class at the time) stopped by on the advice of an angel. No credit cards, shopping promotions or decorations were found at the stable; perhaps the only thing that was upsized in the stable was the hay. Jesus came into this world humbly - without a fancy crib, without a nursery and without a big fuss.

When Jesus was born He was wrapped in swaddling clothes (a plain square of cloth that was held with bandages to keep it together) and laid in a manger (a wooden box used to hold animal feed). One of the most prominent figures in the history of the world was born in a stinking stable and had a feed box for His bed. This was downsizing at its best. God kept it simple. I believe that God knew that life’s most enjoyable things are simple and uncomplicated. The contrast between what Christmas has become, and what Christmas really is, is substantial.

How will you spend your Christmas this year? Will you go for the upsized version of buying more and more presents, pushing your way through jam-packed shopping malls, maxing out your credit cards all in the name of “Christmas”? Or will you seek the downsized version, God’s version, which consists of humility, peace, love, simplicity and miracles. After all isn’t that what Christmas really is, miraculous? More often than not the downsized version of Christmas brings an upsized feeling. As Christmas approaches I encourage you to reflect on what which version you value most, upsized or downsized?

by Lisa Brett