The meaning of Christmas

…when we learn what life is worth, then we will have peace on Earth…Stevie Wonder

December brings one of the most magical holidays people celebrate worldwide, Christmas. Decorations go up on houses, presents and of course, the Christmas tree. It is a marketed as a festive time of year, and boy, is it ever marketed.

Images of Santa Claus, reindeer, the North Pole, elves working to make presents dominate the cycle. Family feasts are prepared, ugly sweaters become stylish and traditions honored. Heaven forbid snow is not an ingredient in your celebration, or you have just not had a real Christmas.

This begs the question, what is the real meaning of Christmas? In my lifetime of 58 years, I have experienced snow on Christmas maybe a handful of times, yet never did I feel my Christmas was any less special because of it. Maybe it was how I was raised by my parents.

Instead of being taught about a jolly fat man in a red suit and going into credit card debt to fill Corporate America’s portrayal of Christmas for profit, I was taught the true meaning of Christmas. I learned why and how the birth of Jesus is so important to everyday life.

The First Christmas

Over 2,000 years ago Joseph and Mary roamed the land searching for a place for the Christ child to be born. Every place they went, they were turned away. They were told there was “no vacancies” and to keep moving. My question is, if people knew it was the savior of the world that Mary was carrying…