The True Meaning of Christmas

This Christmas season, I thought a lot about the lyrics to the song "C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S":

When I was but a youngster,
Christmas meant one thing,
That I’d be getting lots of toys that day.
I learned a whole lot different,
When my Mother sat me down,
And taught me to spell Christmas this way:

"C" is for the Christ child, born upon this day,
"H" for herald angels in the night,
"R" means our Redeemer,
"I" means Israel,
"S" is for the star that shone so bright,
"T" is for three wise men, they who traveled far,
"M" is for the manger where he lay,
"A"’s for all He stands for,
"S" means shepherds came,

And that’s why there’s a Christmas day.

In the past, it really was all about the toys for me. I could never sleep on Christmas Eve due to the pure excitement of waking up to presents. However, this year, my family did something that made me see Christmas in a new way. About a month ago, my parents sat our family down and told us that instead of buying presents for our siblings, we were going to save the money we would have spent buying them presents. We were then going to donate that money to those who needed it.

At first I really wasn’t all that happy about this idea—I love buying presents for my siblings…not to mention, I love getting them. ☺ But actually, I think it was the best thing that could have happened. I found that throughout the Christmas season, my thoughts were much more focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Christmas, I realized, is so much more about the giving. Yes, of course it is always fun to get a new present, but it is nothing compared to the feeling I felt when gave to a family that is not as fortunate as mine has been.

This also helped me to see something about Christmas that I never have before: for so many people, Christmas is not a time of celebration and fun, it is more of a realization of things they do not have. On Christmas morning, so many children wake up to disappointment. In the past, I have been so focused on myself that I had never stopped to think about the fact that Christmas is not such a great time for everybody. I am so glad that I was able to make Christmas fun for someone else, even if it was only one family.

This giving and focus on the true meaning of Christmas has inspired me to keep this attitude with me throughout the rest of the year. I once heard it said that Christianity blooms in December and fizzles in the other months. I believe that the world would be such a better place if Christians and non-Christians alike resolved to do kind things and think of others throughout the year and not just during holidays focused on goodness. My family decided that from now on, we are going to go to do some kind of “giving” thing once a month.