With Christmas being over-commercialized many have forgotten what the true meaning of Christmas is. In most ways I feel like Charlie Brown. In the movie A Charlie Brown Christmas he says, “Doesn’t anyone know what Christmas is all about?! My own dog gone commercial-ARG! I can’t stand it!”
Yes of course there’s the whole presents under the tree, the gathering of family and friends-but there’s so much more than just feasting on mom’s Christmas goodies.
During this time of year I wish I was a kid again. It seems to me that Christmas’ were much better as a kid. When I was six I remember anxiously waiting for the Toys R Us catalog to arrive in the mail. Once it arrived I would use a thick, black, sharpie to circle all of the things I wanted while rapidly pointing my finger to the item on the page looking up at my mother saying, “I WANT THAT!” Like most children I would also count down the days until I would be able to shred apart what I hoped were the presents that I circled in the catalog.
Although once I became older Christmas’ began to change, and the spirit of Christmas began to fade. Through age I was becoming a scrooge. I despised the radio station that played constant carols before Thanksgiving. It seemed like a chore knowing that I had to get gifts for people. I also ducked my head down when I walked past the little red can outside the grocery store. The only thing that I was eager for was to receive the new CHI straighter that I knew my mom would get me.
All of my Christmas’ before were filled with uncontainable excitement. So what changed?
I’m not one to preach when it comes to how one should celebrate their holidays. I just ask you all to keep in mind behind the meaning of it all. For a review, Christmas is a celebrated holiday through Christianity, in which is celebrated for the birth of Jesus Christ. Through Christian belief, the tradition of giving and receiving presents is to represent how Christ gave his life for us-as a gift. We receive that gift by accepting Christ into our lives to receive eternal life. In a short-hand version that is the backbone behind the “gift-giving”.
So as the Christmas holiday come to a near please remember to spread the holiday cheer. Don’t be a scrooge and refuse to donate that extra noise in your pockets. Like Dr. Suess says, “Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before, maybe Christmas he thought, doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.”
