Why Christmas Week is Best Time to Rekindle Friendships
While Christmas Day gets all the holiday fuss, the most worthwhile days of the entire year are the seven days directly following Christmas Day. Despite their lack of fanfare, these seven days provide the year’s best chance at rekindling friendships.Per a recent survey, one-third of American workers take the entire week off between Christmas and New Year’s Day, and a whopping 82 percent of American workers take at least some of the week off.Although the rest of the year may seem too hectic for deep community, Christmas Week gives us ample opportunity to reach out and break bread with dear friends. And don’t take that advice as something that’s optional. It’s a matter of striving towards greater obedience.
John 13:34-35 – So I give you a new command: Love each other deeply and fully. Remember the ways that I have loved you, and demonstrate your love for others in those same ways. Everyone will know you as my followers if you demonstrate your love to others. (VOICE Translation)
As we can see, we are called by our Creator to prosperous friendships and deep community. Unfortunately, our culture’s hectic nature often blocks us from doing what we are called to do.
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That’s why Christmas Week is so special. There are fewer excuses than any other time of the year. With that opportunity in hand, we need to make earnest efforts to steward our time well.I can’t speak for everyone, but here are a few ways my family rekindles friendships during Christmas Week:
Visit a Next-Door Neighbor
On most days, we get home from work without ever having to see our next-door neighbors. That’s partly due to our neighborhood’s design that attempts to maximize privacy. But it’s also due to us being slaves to busyness. When Christmas Week arrives, the shackles of busyness fall away and release us to go be better neighbors.It doesn't have to be anything formal, just a quick hello and a conversation. Take the time to learn their names and their kids' names if you don't already know. Ask them how their year has been and what their hopes are for the coming year. Before the rush of our current society, neighbors were natural friend. Now most of us withdraw, sacrificing what has the potential to be easy friendship.Take the time to visit a neighbor now, and set the tone for the new year. It's always great to see a friendly face in the homes next to yours.
Treat a Local Friend to Lunch
Getting lunch with friends proves quite difficult for us during a regular work week. Busy schedules and heavy traffic make eating lunch with a friend almost impossible to implement. However, during Christmas Week, those scheduling ills are minimal.Take the time to call up a friend and get together. Invest in one another by sharing the joys of the season, catching up on lost time together, and creating vision for the year ahead. Let your time off serve as an open door to enjoy the company of a good friend even if just for an hour or so. It doesn't take long to pour into someone's life and to be encouraged by them in turn.
Go See a Far-Away Friend
Lastly, Christmas Week provides a means to go visit friends who live out of town. This isn’t something we’ve always done, but I’m looking forward to it becoming a consistent tradition of ours. It’s not obvious, but there are few things more satisfying than visiting a friend and putting a smile on their face.
What's Next?
Those are just a few ways that my family uses Christmas Week to nurture our friendships. Pray deeply and search your heart for more ways you can uniquely do the same.