Christmas

Published on 12/25/2021

It’s the happiest time of the year. Or so that’s what the music says. A time for many different things in life. A solemn time of reflection. As I sit here Christmas morning writing this, I can confirm this holiday is all of that and much more. We give, but what for. We thank, but who exactly do we thank. For a long time, these questions have pondered my mind. Christmas is a wonderful time for family to gather and see each other again. I know this especially well this year, as it was my first semester away for college, and while the Zoom calls with my family were nice, it’s not the same as being here in person. I always wondered how things were here without me. After living here 20 years of my life, how do things differ here when that changes. And when I do get back home, how do they feel about that after me being gone for 4 months. It’s definitely strange growing up and experiencing this. But now it’s Christmastime again and that means we get to celebrate as a family again. For me personally I always visit my mom’s side of the family on Christmas Eve, and we exchange gifts in a White Elephant (This year I got a jar lol) and we get to sit and talk as it’s one of two times of the year we all see each other (I missed the other one this year too which is Thanksgiving). It’s good to catch up with your family after not seeing them in a long time like that. That night we always play at our 11:00pm Church service(I play the Euphonium). Then for Christmas day my immediate family and my two sets of grandparents go to church in the morning at my grandparents church then we gather all together later in the day for a fun Thanksgiving. We used to have my great grandma with us as well, but she unfortunately passed in my junior year of high school in 2018, so we haven't had her for four Christmasses now. It’s weird to think about. But Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays, not just because of getting to spend time with family, but for the true meaning of it. I’m gonna sound a little like Linus in Charlie Brown (I’ve been addicted to the Charlie Brown music this year), but the Christ in Christmas is really what we care about. Same for X-mas. That X is just a sideways cross in my eyes. Christmas wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the person we celebrate. Sure, Santa is amazing and his presents are cool, but I think the greatest gift we have is Jesus born in a manger, and he gave us the gift of our own families to celebrate his birth on this special day. We love to give thanks for that this day, because without him this holiday wouldn’t exist, and more importantly we wouldn’t exist. Some backstory if you don’t know a little (You can read Luke 1:26-2 for the full thing), Jesus was given gifts by wiseman (think of the song We Three Kings), and that’s why we give gifts to each other today. There is so much more I can say, but I just wanted to talk today about why I love this holiday so much. In today’s world I feel like sometimes we forget what the “Christ” in Christmas is all about. So when you celebrate today or whenever you gather, think about why this holiday exists. And if you don’t celebrate and you do either something else or celebrate a different holiday, we still appreciate all of you and hope you have a wonderful rest of 2021! I just wanna thank everyone for reading, watching, following, subscribing, all that stuff, your generous giving was the best gift to me this year I could’ve had. Merry Christmas.