Does Leaving "Christ" in Christmas Mean Putting Up a Cross?

I was driving down the road the other day while admiring the wonderful Christmas decorations in the yards, when I came upon a house with a giant cross on their house illuminated brighter than anything else in the neighborhood.  Then, while delivering mail, I walked up onto a doorstep that had a four foot cross with miniature Christmas lights all over it.  This began to strike me as odd.  Now don't get me wrong, I am well aware of the significance of the cross and what it means in the life of a Christian.  There is no greater symbol of the sacrifice that Christ suffered for each one of us on that beautiful scandalous night on that hill they called the Skulls.  But that is Good Friday/Easter.  This...this is Christmas!  The celebration of the Saviour's birth!  This is why we give presents and parties, and bake cookies, and put up trees this time of year.  I don't see many people commemoration someones birthday by how they will or did end up dying.

So why would Christians prop up the cross to such an exalted level this time of year? I can see a couple of reasons.

1. Christians in this area want people to know that they really believe in Jesus.  Not the "false" Jesus taught by some.  The Christians know that the dominant relgion does not really feel the same way as evangelicals do about the cross.  So this is a way to seperate the "sheep from the wolves".

2.  Christians are so focused on death sometimes that we fail to see life.  Think how absurd it is that the ultimate symbol of death is so prominantly featured in these displays.  What does that say?  Does it espouse life to those who see it?  Yes Jesus died for us.  That is something that no one else could have done.  But right now...this time of year is about the life of Jesus.  It's about the miraculous conception of a baby inside a 14 year old Jewish girl 2000 years ago. 

We have plenty of time to contemplate his death on the cross.  Let's at least spend a few weeks contemplating the gift of his LIFE.