When loved ones are near. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.1 For all of the shallow reasons that Williams sings about, he rightly taps into many people’s perceptions of Christmas as a sentimental time to reconnect with family and friends. This superficial sentimentality sums up Christmas for many people in our modern Western culture.2 When you think of Christmas, what first comes to mind? Perhaps you think of the manger scene with shepherds and wise men, presents, a Christmas