Why do you celebrate Christmas?
This is a question I've been thinking about over the past few weeks. Why do we do what we do? What does it mean to celebrate Christmas? Santa? Gifts? Good deals? Church? Family time? Giving? What is it that motivates you to observe Christmas?
Christmas for me has always been about family, gifts, & time off work/school. Which, are all part of this season, & I'm never against time off work. I just want to ask the question why. Why are these things important at this time of year? Why do we put energy & effort into decorating our homes, buying gifts, cooking a perfect dinner, & making sure we get to the Christmas Eve service (even though we haven't been the rest of the year)? I don't want to celebrate just because it's how I was brought up, or it's what everyone else is doing. I want my Christmas to be different. I want my Christmas to be about a time of remembrance & celebration of the life of a baby who came into the world to help me realize God's love for His children. Me. You. Us all.
I wasn't always a believer in the whole God thing. I took the stance for a long time that I was living my life to be a good person & to enjoy the time I had here on Earth. But about 7 years ago God came into my life & changed everything. I started to see God doing things in my life to get me to notice Him. I began reading the Bible & learning about how God came to Earth because we had 'religion' all wrong. He showed me that my life has a purpose & meaning: to love God & love others. That's what my life is about now. I believe that Jesus is the way to Heaven. I believe that Jesus is the truth above all things. I believe that Jesus is the light that was sent to save the world from darkness. Because my life has been changed, the way I celebrate Christmas also needs to change.
I'm not trying to argue that gifts, Santa, & family time are bad, please don't get me wrong. I just want to take a look at why I do the things I do around Christmas.
I read this blog that first got me thinking about all this. I highly encourage you to check it out when you have time. It gives really focused & practical traditions to start that will help keep us focused on the why of Christmas.
Here are some traditions I would like to start in my family:
- Advent Traditions: Advent wreath, Advent readings- see here for a free Advent devotional book.
- Meditation Traditions: Names of Jesus ornaments, changing the way we decorate
- Worship Traditions: Christmas Eve church service, play/sing Christmas hymns, giving only 3 gifts
- Imitating Christ Traditions: Being intentional to care for orphans & widows, the church, & the poor during the season.
I am so thankful for my family & for the traditions my parents set for me & my sister. I in no way mean to criticize the way I was raised or say our traditions were bad. I love & want to keep many of the traditions I grew up with! I just look at the little family I have now & realize we can choose how we want to celebrate. The why. The reason behind all that we do, for our family, will point back to a God that came into my life and gave me indescribable joy, purpose & motivation. I hope you will join me to try to give Him a little more consideration this Christmas season.
