Duggar Family Christmas: Jessa Mocks Others; Family Talks Materialism, Salvation

The Duggar family presented a view of their Christmas this morning: light-hearted mockery of family members’ ability (or lack thereof) to keep to a schedule, dire warnings not to be materialistic on Christmas, and a glimpse of decorations and piles of gifts around the home.

Duggar daughter Jessa Seewald opened her Christmas morning by poking fun at her family and one skill Duggar family members have previously admitted to lacking: keeping to a schedule. It seems Jessa, her husband Ben, and son Spurgeon were all due at the Duggar family home by 7 a.m. for Christmas gift time, so that there would be plenty of time to make it to church.

Jessa presented two videos of her arrival at the Duggar home — in the first one, she hints that she’s running late but doubts anyone is up, and in the second, she demonstrates that she was right.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOcQcPHB2Vb/?taken-by=jessaseewald

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOcSdrBhNzu/?taken-by=jessaseewald

It wasn’t long after, however, that the Duggar family was starting the day out with their own social media presentation of Christmas greetings — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, Christmas reminders of the Duggar family’s belief that family, gifts, and memories are not the most important parts of the holiday.

Christmas is delicious foods, reunited loved ones, special times, laughing children, sweet presents and precious memories. It’s family and friends. But indeed, Christmas is much more than that.

The Duggar blog presented warnings about sin and a call for fans to seek redemption in Christ.

As for the Duggar family’s beliefs about Christmas, those have already presented some controversy this month, as Derick Dillard tweeted anti-Santa sentiments. Though he later deleted the tweet that sent Duggar fans into a fury, Derick followed it up this week by sharing an article in which he may have found vindication: in a Desiring God interview with Pastor John Piper.

[Image via
Twitter/Derick Dillard][/caption]

In his message, the pastor supports the content of the Duggar son-in-law’s tweet.

“I cannot see why a parent — if they know and love Jesus, if they have found Jesus to be the greatest treasure in the world — why they would bring Jesus out of the celebration and Santa into the celebration at all. He is just irrelevant. He has nothing to do with it. He is zero.”

A few followers still took issue, telling Jim Bob Duggar’s son-in-law that they found Santa to be harmless fun and that Santa and Christianity aren’t mutually exclusive.

https://twitter.com/LisbetGilmour/status/810993995228659716

Though the Duggar family may oppose Santa, they’ve made clear before that they don’t oppose the celebration of Christmas with presents. In 2014, Josh Duggar — who isn’t visible in Christmas celebrations so far this year, after backlash when he was included in social media images and Jinger Duggar’s wedding episode — presented a video tour in which Michelle Duggar explains that while they do exchange gifts, they don’t have a big tree, and they celebrate Christmas as a birthday party for Jesus.

Josh shows that the Duggar tree is a tiny table-top one, and Michelle Duggar notes that the family uses banners celebrating their religion instead.

However, Jessa’s video above shows that the Duggar home does include a full-sized tree this year, and piles, stacks, and rows of gifts — see a still from the video below, showing the gifts and tree in the Duggar home. At least one banner as the Duggar matriarch described (reading “Glory to God”) is visible, too.

Though some reports of the 2014 video may have led viewers to believe the Duggar family did not exchange gifts, they are clear even then in showing piles of gifts around the house. Josh speaks to Jana Duggar about her role in handling mail, including ordered gifts, and boasts of gifts sent from fans. Duggar also notes that the family has had large trees for past Christmases.

In short, the Duggar family’s Christmas celebration — despite their warnings about Santa and their description of the holiday as a birthday party for Jesus — looks very much like Christmas celebrations across America, if perhaps a bit more crowded than some.

[Featured Image by TLC/YouTube]