I have always loved trains, but there is one I studiously avoid, since it threatens to run over anyone in its way. I call it the crazy holiday train.  

The holiday train starts chugging down the tracks long before the first Advent candle has been lit. You know it is heading your way when grocery stores display reindeer-shaped chocolates before Thanksgiving. You know it has picked up speed when you see folks camping out in parking lots to get to Black Friday sales.  

In the train are elves on shelves, gigantic gingerbread men and a bleary-eyed Grinch. There are fancy blenders, coffee pots, computers, silky sweaters and glittering jewelry. The conductor is Santa Claus, who has a maniacal gleam in his eyes, as he chugs a mug of spiked egg nog and yells “Buy more, save more!”  

There is barely room for a little crib that has been shoved into the caboose. In this crib sleeps a baby who was born in the humblest surroundings, although he is a king. Beside the baby is a girl so filled with love she cannot keep her eyes off him. Near her is Joseph, a humble man who loves this mother and baby with all his heart.  

We know Advent is a time of quiet yearning and hopeful expectation. A time to prepare ourselves spiritually to encounter the Christ Child. However, it is difficult to navigate the weeks leading to Christmas peacefully, when secular society is fully on board the crazy train.  

My friend’s son, when he was just a toddler, was given an Advent calendar that had a chocolate hidden behind each of the days. His mother explained that when all the little windows were open and every chocolate eaten, Santa would come. She went into his room an hour later and discovered he had opened every day on the calendar and eaten every chocolate. When asked why, he explained “I wanted Santa to come.”  

It’s little wonder the boy lacked the patience to wait, given that the rest of society began celebrating months ago. He had fallen prey to the crazy holiday train!  

Advent can get complicated with parties and mall sales and lawns decorated with Smurfs and reindeer. Still, Jesus’ birth was so simple and peaceful. In a beautiful poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” Christina Rossetti describes the scene: “Enough for him, whom cherubim worship night and day, a breastful of milk and a mangerful of hay; enough for him, whom angels fall down before, the ox and ass and camel which adore.” 

We can find peace by drawing near to God through prayer and Mass, and spending time in adoration. We find peace by confronting whatever sins are stalking us and heading to confession. The world is full of troubles, but Christ said, “Take heart, I have overcome the world. 

Truth be told, the most important gift is the one we give to Christ. Rossetti puts it poignantly: “What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part, yet what can I give him, give my heart.”  

Let’s pray we will avoid the thundering approach of the holiday train that threatens to flatten everything in its path. Let’s pray we will give the baby born on Christmas Day a heart filled with peace, a heart open to others, a heart steeped in love. Let’s move the baby from the back of the train to the place where he truly belongs, which is the center of our lives.