What Christmas means to me

What does Christmas mean to me? A great many things! First it means that there is a lot to do and to be done. There are services to be done all over the Peninsula, taking communion to those who belong to the churches but cannot get out to services, visiting people who are sick in hospital and in the homes Christmas programs at the schools and helping to feed families that are in need this time of year.

Christmas is a time to stop and think about Christmases past: how things used to be and about family and the times that we have shared over the years. I think of the Christmases when I used to so look forward to watching my favourite television specials like “The Grinch who stole Christmas”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “Rudolph the Red nose Reindeer” and my absolute favourite, “A Christmas Carol”. I don’t mean the newer ones. I mean the classic, black and white one with Alistair Sim as “Ebenezer Scrooge”. I think of the old family traditions like the pictures in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and getting ready to go off to Church for service late in the evening. I recall the smell of the wafting incense as the teenaged server passed by, the ringing of bells, and the singing of traditional Christmas Carols. I recall the early morning surprises and the joy at an unexpected gift would bring. I hark back to the pleas of my parents to either go back to bed or to go and play quietly until a more suitable hour of the morning. I remember the smell of the freshly perked coffee emanating as we waited for my mom to come in from “throwing a flake of hay to the horses”. I remember the twinkling lights and bright decorations on the tree, the vibrantly coloured packages under the tree and perhaps the thrill of finding a bit of snow on the ground.       

This moment is a moment to stop and recall Christmas present: the day previous has been a busy one. And it had been a late night trying to get the house settled down a least for a time. Early in the morning the family rises and settles in our appointed spots around the tree into open presents. There will be the flipping of pancakes and the sizzling of bacon for breakfast and the sweet order of the turkey as it cooks in the oven. There will be joy of watching children with their new found treasures. There will be the demands to put something together so that it can be played with or the need to put batteries in a toy that has already used up its first set in rigourous play. There will be a meal to look forward to with a moment of thanks for all that has been given and received and lots of eating.

But why do this at all – the meaning of Christmas comes to us from something that happened in the life of a couple more than 2,000 years ago. God came to a roadside stable, he made his tent with us and we have seen his glory. He came not only that we might know him but that he would also come home with him. Let the first gift of this Christmas be the one God desires to give to you: himself. Christmas means that God has come to us to be with us and that he will show us the way home.