Christmas is not a cheap thrill for our lives, nor a cheap fix for our problems. We are called to take up crosses and follow in the footsteps of Christ. While there is nothing wrong with Christmas as a star-studded celebration, for Christians, stars without crosses are as flimsy and fake as the ones perched on top of our Christmas trees.

As kids we probably started the ritual sometime in early November - that is, started our annual Christmas list-making. By Thanksgiving we would have already expanded its length to three times the allowed amount and then painstakingly whittled it back down to a more appropriate length.

The Christmas list let you dream, for it held out the promise that anything was possible. These promises stayed alive until the last shred of paper had been torn away from …