My wife and I noticed something on Dec. 26, on the way home from visiting family that, for some reason, troubled my heart.

I am sure that this happens every year, but we noticed that every major radio station — including the Christian ones — had stopped playing ALL Christmas music!

Never mind that these stations had been playing Christmas music since the first day of November. Never mind that many of them had gently eased them into their station schedule. Never mind that I had finally gotten into the holiday season mood just a few days before!

The Christmas songs were gone. All of them were GONE.

As we continued on our journey home, we passed various stores, and it appeared that many of them had removed all of their Christmas decorations. The stores appeared to have been “Grinched” the night before!

It was as if a Christmas Apocalypse had occurred! My wife, Tara, went to a grocery that same evening and sent me a picture of the same aisles that had Christmas candy and decorations one day earlier, and, to my dismay, I saw that the aisle was freshly stocked with the Valentine’s Day supply!

I sent her a text back that stated, “Isn’t it disappointing? It’s as if Christmas never happened.” No sooner than Christmas Day 2018 was over, it was quickly left behind.

It’s kind of sad, really.

By the time the day after Christmas comes, all of the gifts had been given and opened. Family has come and gone.

In a couple of our family holiday gatherings, there are as many as 40 people in one house. When all of the family goes home, there is no more laughter, no more conversations, no more children running around, no more trying to find a place to eat.

The decorations are boxed up and put away for another year. The Christmas trees are taken down. The Christmas movies will come to an end on all television stations soon after Christmas Day.

On the day after Christmas, more returns are made than any other day of the year. In 2016, The National Retail Federation found that 48 percent of all Americans would be reporting to stores the days after Christmas for returns, gift exchanges and looking for after-Christmas deals.

It is very sad that on Christmas Day, everyone seems to be content and happy with what they received and, a day later, people are rushing to the stores like they never received anything!

I guess what I was learning on Dec. 26 is that the day after Christmas means different things to many people.

To some, the celebration continues! To others, the celebration has ended. To others, the celebration couldn’t have ended faster!

However your Dec. 26 went, I am thankful and rejoice that the purpose of Christmas can never be forgotten!

We celebrate the coming and birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to serve us (read Mark 10:45), to sacrifice his life for us (read John 3:16), and to save us (read Matthew 1:21) from our sins every single day — even the day after Christmas! Christmas is about far more than a single day — its purpose and message goes beyond Dec. 25!

Today is Jan. 3. By now, Christmas Day happened over a week ago.

Don’t get me wrong. The decorations eventually have to go down, unless you’re the type who likes to leave them up (haha). Ours came down yesterday.

The Christmas songs, as good as they are, don’t seem to have the same impact in March or April as they do in December, so I can understand that we wouldn’t have them on our playlists much after the holidays. My boys are still singing “Feliz Navidad!”

And a Christmas gift given to a relative or friend a couple of weeks after Christmas has to come with an explanation — otherwise it would appear that you forgot about them and are trying to make it up to them (just so you know, I love gifts all of time).

I understand at some point we must “move” on from Christmas Day, but we should never move on from the purpose and message of Christmas.

Troy Lacey wrote, “So what should we think about on the day after Christmas? As we put away the gifts we have been given, or even as we use them, we should consider them reminders that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). As we leave family behind, perhaps to not see them for another year, we can meditate on our relationship to God because of the work of Christ (Galatians 3:26), and as with our earthly families, we can look forward to the time when we will be in the presence of Christ. That will be a family reunion that will never end in bittersweet goodbyes, but will go on for all eternity! Finally, as the gifts we received wear out or are used up, we can thank God that his gift to us is eternal (Romans 6:23).”

Christmas was not meant to be an end in itself, but it was just the beginning of the glorious plan that God had to redeem and rescue humanity.

I encourage you to remain in the same steadfast love, joy, hope and thankfulness that only comes from God ALL year long. Merry Days after Christmas!