What Christmas Really Means To Me : Day 1

What does Christmas mean to me? Most people know that Christians celebrate Christmas as the birthday of Christ which is quite debatable, but it also means much more. Christmas seems to come around sooner and sooner each year. Children daydream about a white Christmas full of snowball fights and building snowmen. Kids hope and pray that their letter made it to the North Pole with promises that they have been excellent all year in alarm that coal will be in their stocking. First graders make ornaments for the tree, a Christmas countdown chain and sing carols to the other classes. They have a holiday party where they eat cookies, candy canes and hot chocolate while watching the Polar Express.

After waiting for December 25th to roll around each year, they finally receive the unique toy they have been waiting for. As you grow up, you learn that the presents are not the most important part of Christmas. Christmas means a joyful time of year. It makes me think of giving. There is so much joy going on. Christmas is the best time for me. It brings friends and family together.

 Everyone smells joy in the air and everyone is celebrating. When I think of Christmas I think of good times. When Christmas is here you are suppose to share and have a nice time, and love each other. Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me.

Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent’s house. We spend the day after mass, preparing a big Christmas dinner, with all the trimmings. The children love to see each other. They spend the day playing games and sharing their new gifts and toys that Santa brought for each of them (I’m the one who got broke though Hahaha :D). They get so eager to decorate, that it is hard to restrain them. 

Decorating for Christmas is so much fun. My mom has so many indoor decorations that they cannot all possibly be displayed. Besides that I go DIY crazy during this time. We try to change the decorations, which we put out every year. Most of the ornaments have been collected over the years and are very old. But something about those rustic ornaments has so many memories throughout the years.

So many people may take pleasure in decorating the tree with the people they love. People are more aware of the Salvation Army and begin to look in their closets and donate to the under privileged. The local food bank has a waiting list for volunteers during the holidays. So much good happens around Christmas time because people learn how important it is to give back.
Gathering around the table with family that you hardly get to see is one of the best times of the year. 

Catching up on old times with childhood friends is always fun, but my personal favorite time of year is shopping for the people you care about. Thinking about finding the perfect gift that will put a smile on someone’s face makes me feel good. Christmas is so much more than the holiday of receiving presents. Christmas is certainly a time for sharing in gift giving and celebrating, too.  And yet, the greatest gifts are not those wrapped in all patterned papers or dressed in vibrant bows.  They are those given with an open heart, one wrapped in the lovely streamers of faith, hope, and love.  To quote Charles Dickens’ classic tale, “A Christmas Carol,” “I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year.” It is truly the festival of giving and love.

Love y'all xo