Hatred of life and the joy of Christmas: Advent 2

I am reading a new book, Live like a Narnian: Christian Discipleship in Lewis' s Chronicles; the author, Joe Rigney, reminds the reader that Lewis saw goodness and joy in feasting, celebrations, the coming of spring and certainly Christmas. In the chapter, “The Witch's War on Joy,” the reader begins to understand how precious is the gift of joy. 
 
Rigney writes of how the white Witch with Edmund comes upon a party of several creatures of Narnia who are feasting together and she accuses them of gluttony and self-indulgence, then turns them to stone. Of her actions the author writes:

The benefit of the scene is that it demonstrates that the witch's evil is not fundamentally about winter and cold weather, but about a deep-seated hostility to life, joy, and celebration. The Witch loves death and her icy gripe on Narnia is simply one expression of this overall hatred of life.

 But we are nestled into the One who is life and the great enemy of real life is already defeated by the life, death and resurrection of the Son of God. So there is joy, great joy in this season of Advent and Christmas. There is joyful acknowledgment that the Son has taken on flesh and entered this world as a small baby for the sake of humanity:

For God so loved the world that, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

And there is joy for those who believe because beyond a first there is a second coming when he shall bring to a close all of the evil, repression and sorrow of this present time. There is coming that time of being totally with Jesus our Lord, feasting, celebrating and worshiping the lamb.

I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

The gift of life, the gift of tomorrow are wrapped up in Advent and Christmas.