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For years I begged my wife to let me keep an Old English Christmas. That’s the term I made up to describe what happened once upon a time in Christmastime England.

At some point, Christmas was not just 12 days. It didn’t end on January 5th. It extended all the way to February 2nd. It was an elongated celebration of this most wonderful Christian feast: the celebration of God becoming flesh and sharing in our struggles as a human.

I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for Christmas. The commercial stuff, the red and green tinsel, and the flashing lights. I’ve got a sign in my front window that says ‘OCD: Obsessive Christmas Disorder.’

I especially love the Christmas tree. I bask in the warm light it gives when it’s the only light left on in the house. Sitting by it, enjoying its beauty, recollecting on all the memories that are kept alive inside the ornaments.

I’ve wanted to do an Old English Christmas because I want to keep this spirit going as long as I can. As a Christian, there is no reason for me to stop celebrating that God became human and learned what was needed for humanity’s redemption and sanctification.

And if you’re not a Christian, but you enjoy the joyful spirit of the season, you too can keep an Old English Christmas by maintaining that spirit of joy and celebration just because it’s the best way to be human.

Just after New Year’s, I was in New York City and saw the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. It was, as you might expect, a wildly joyful celebration. There was laughter, and light, and a great spirit of mirth. We were all there celebrating Christmas. We were all together caught up in its beauty, but when the show ended, and everyone was trying to use the same exit, that spirit fled like a ghost on the breeze.

Grown men my size pushed around my son and my 68-year-old Tía Rita. Somebody elbowed me in the back, but the line slowed down for both of us to meet side by side. I took advantage of the serendipity of our proximity, looked at him and asked what happened to his Christmas spirit. It was amazing how fast it dried up and selfishness took over.

As I’m so fond of saying, it doesn’t have to be this way. We really can keep the spirit of Christmas alive. We can keep finding beautiful things to celebrate. We can keep finding ways to serve one another with a spirit of joy and gratitude. We can give gifts to one another simply because we love one another. We can choose to do these things, and thereby create a more beautiful and just world.

If you spend your life in the pursuit of truth, justice, and a better tomorrow, that undying spirit of Christmas will become the norm, not the exception to our otherwise regular, barbaric indecency. Let’s do it, huh? Let’s make a better world, a better tomorrow. There’s no reason not to.

Chris Adams is the Rector at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Washington.