The Real Meaning of Christmas

Kathy tagged everyone who read her blog to continue this meme.

Here are the instructions for this meme:

1. Make a paragraph next to the last paragraph in the tag that is passed to you “What is Christmas to you” and put your name at the end of it linking back to your site, or the page that answered this tag.

2. You can use a title that will suit your Christmas idea.

3. Then tag as many as you can.

For me, Christmas means HOPE. Always has been, always will be. The fallen world has received the greatest hope of all: the birth of Jesus Christ. And since hope is all around, then it's only normal to see so many acts of kindness around Christmastime. In Indo, we never exchanged Christmas gifts, but now I live in Finland and I start to buy gifts for my loved ones. Christmas also means family gathering for me and candlelight service at church. Plus I get to sing Christmas songs and enjoying a Christmas play and dance. Other than that, for me Christmas also means SERENITY. I can feel a different kind of peace in my heart whenever Christmas comes along. And since Christmas is near New Year, it's also time for reflection for me: reflecting all the blessings that the Lord has given me and then thanking God for everything. - Amel

Christmas, to me, is a day that is set aside to celebrate the birth of God's only son, the Savior and Messiah. We celebrate this special birth by spending time with the people we love the most and giving gifts to each other because God gave to us the greatest gift of all. And it's not only on Christmas Day that we celebrate; we celebrate during the weeks leading up to December 25 by giving gifts to others around us who are in need of basic necessities that we are already blessed to have. We celebrate by listening to and singing Christmas carols that tell about the birth of Jesus. We also celebrate this day by eating special foods that we only have at Christmas time. I love Christmas and meditating on the story in Luke 2 about how it all actually happened. I love spending time with family and friends and the warmth of love that I feel at this time of year. -Kathy

Three or four years ago I began to struggle with the meaning of Christmas. The pagan roots of the holiday, Santa being omniscient and somewhat omnipresent subtly taking over the position of God. The Christmas spirit was growing cold. Then fine December evening my wife and infant son went to a department store in an old mall locally. As I pushed the baby around the aisles of the dated department store while my wife shopped I began to notice the garland hanging from the ceiling. The carols softly floating through the air waxed nostalgic. I was taken back to my childhood when Christmas was special. Christmas to me is a celebration of the birth of Jesus but I celebrate that everyday. I am deeply moved when Mariah Carey sings O Holy Night. But Christmas to me is that feeling that stirs deep within my innards, the same feeling I would get when the big '72 Pontiac rolled over hills when I was small. Christmas is an event where people act like they actually care about each other. I'm naive enough to believe they are being sincere. Christmas is a beautiful time of year and I once again enjoy every minute of it. - -Warren

I would like to take Kathy;s queue and tag everyone who visits this blog from now until Christmas!

I wish everyone the best Christmas ever.