Christmas: Different Place, Same Meaning

I will never forget the great excitement I had for Christmas as a young boy. From the count down of our family's Christmas calendar from December 1st to 25th, to making a Christmas list, to singing Christmas carols, seeing all of the beautiful red poinsettias, and praying for the season's first snow. And that's just the beginning part of December. As Christmas eve would finally come, my sister and I would always build a fort and have the hardest time falling asleep knowing that Mom and Dad were putting presents under the Christmas tree. I could smell dad making the chocolate chip cookies for Santa and could hear mom playing that beautiful Celine Dion Christmas CD (which I have memorized by now and recently gave her Josh Groban's new Noel album so that I could hear something different!). Our spirits were so alive and the joy of the season put smiles on all our faces.

Christmas morning finally comes after a anxious, yet still peaceful night's sleep. The song "O Night Divine" really matches up with every Christmas Eve I've experienced with my family. God truly sends his spirit upon our family as we try to not forget that true meaning of Christmas where God sent his Son Jesus to save all of mankind on that Holy Night in Bethlehem. Each year we would wake up and see the presents under the Christmas tree. We wouldn't be aloud to come into the living room until mom and dad told us we could. I admit as a child I was always so excited about knowing what was in that big present that mom and dad always saved for opening last. The stockings were always a surprise even though I never was as excited to open them. With the camera recording from the tripod in the corner of the room, I was always the goofy one of the family. I thought I was so funny and tried to make everyone laugh by saying random things. Unfortunately, this childhood habit still has not left me today.

What does Christmas mean to me now? Well, I'm sitting here listening to Josh Groban and Celine Dion. My hands are freezing as I try and type this because I don't have any heat in this room. Tears are wanting to come down my face when I think about all of the wonderful memories of Christmas in my old Kentucky home. All right, I can't hold it in any longer. I'm crying because my family means that much to me. You never really know how much something means to you until you don't have it. Christmas means so much to me. Our busy lives really get distracted from the big picture which God paints so beautifully for us each day. Let this be our prayer when we lose our way: Lead us to a place, guide us with your grace, to a place where we'll be saved. This place where we are saved is found at the baby manger in hay where the baby Jesus was born. Give us faith so we can be saved by this heavenly child named Jesus.

Christ is alive in me and for that I celebrate this Christmas. Though it's quite a strain on my heart to celebrate without my loving family and to see their beautiful smiles, I don't want my sorrows to overshadow the truth of Christmas: our Savior was born. For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that if I would believe in him I would not perish, but have everlasting life. Because of this baby Jesus coming to this world, I am saved. How can I keep myself from celebrating his birth this Christmas season? Why should I dwell on the bad? I am so blessed to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. His love has no bounds, and for that I too shall not be bounded by any selfish desires that may be keeping me from celebrating joyfully this Christmas.

May this Christmas be the merriest for each and every one of you. Being on the other side of the world in one of the most stressful cities on our planet, I can assure you it is easy to choose to not be merry. May you not let yourself miss out on the best time of year and brush off any hindrances. Because unto us a child is born, the best present of eternal life has your name on it from God the Father. Will you be excited and open it up? Do you have the faith to believe that the hope of the world is inside? If you've already opened up God's gift, may you open up your heart and share the hope you've found this Christmas.