LATOYA ROSARIO — November at retail and department stores is the time where Halloween’s gruesome merchandise is pushed aside to the sloppy clearance and sale racks, and replaced throughout the store with Christmas in all its dazzle, glitter and canned commercialism. While it may seem abrupt and rushed to launch into the Christmas season before the Thanksgiving blessing has even been said, in some respects it seems necessary this year.

After all, Christmas is an occasion for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ — the Messiah, the Savior of the World, the Hope of Glory. Looking back on this year, our culture needs a bit more Jesus celebration and revelry. The horror list so far has been discouraging: same-sex “marriage” legalized, aborted babies’ body parts sold in pieces, extreme Islamic terrorism, persecuted Christians, Israeli citizens being stabbed and mass murders in theaters, colleges and schools.

Christmas is popping up everywhere, often with an extra helping of crassness, and yet I’m with the big-box store advertisement that shouts, “Load Up on Christmas!” They mean, load up on stuff. I’m thinking, Load up on the light of Christ, so we who are believers in Jesus Christ can finish 2015 strong by sharing the love and the goodness of God with our loved ones and with strangers.

Yes, more Christmas. Every twinkling Christmas light that shines can be a reminder that Jesus is the Light of the World. He is the light that lights up every man and woman who calls on His name. No matter how dark it gets, just one spark of light washes out the dark. (John 1:9, John 12:46)

For every tree that is decorated so beautifully, whether it stands in the mall or in a local Main Street square, let’s recall that we will be planted like trees by streams of water and do not need to fear. (Psalm 1:3, Jeremiah 17:8)

For every jolly, ho-ho Santa Claus of whose path you cross rejoice that the joy of the Lord is our strength and that a merry heart is like good medicine. We can laugh at the days to come because in Christ we always triumph. (Nehemiah 8:10, Proverbs 17:22)

For every sweet, melt-in-your-mouth treat that wafts into your nose, know that God has not forgotten your prayers, but that He has heard every word, fulfills His every promise and has a wedding banquet awaiting us that will put every other feast to shame (Psalm 141: 2, Rev. 5:8, Rev. 19:9).

Each gift that is wrapped is a reminder of the gift of his son, as well as the talents and gifts God placed with each person that can bring His goodness and His will into the Earth. (1 Corinthians 12:4)

And every nativity scene is a reminder that God planted Himself as a seed in the Earth so that He could reap a harvest of souls — people who were once lost but now found. (Matthew 18:11, Luke 19:10)

The Christmas season may seem too early, but jump into the celebration, load up on God’s love, and share the bounty with a world struggling in darkness. We are living in a world that is desperately dying to know Jesus. “Yes, more Christmas!”