Christmas has always been a very important holiday in my life. We’ve celebrated Christmas every year for my entire life but it probably looks a lot different than the stereotypical, modern Christmas celebration. For most people, Christmas is all about fun, family, food, and presents. It’s about Santa coming and cookies and milk, it’s about candy canes and hot cocoa. For me and my family, it’s more of a sober time. We still have fun, open presents, and do all of that, but that isn’t the focus or reason for Christmas.
For us, Christmas is a time to reflect, be thankful, and give to others. It is a time of rememberance.
Growing up in a Christian household, Christmas was all about the birth of Jesus. We were taught at a very young age that Santa was not real (hate to break it to you if you hadn’t heard). Instead, my family used that opportunity to teach us how to put others first, think about what we would want to get our brother or friends, and watch them light up when they open the present. We were told that because God gave us the greatest gift of all when He sent His son Jesus down to Earth, we use this day to give gifts to others.
Every year at Christmas, we have two main traditions. The first is that we always sit together and read the story of Jesus’ birth from the Bible. We take turns reading so that each member of the family has a chance to participate and interact. Sometimes we do it by candlelight, sometimes we’re in a different state, but regardless, we still do it every year as a family.We do this first thing in the morning so we can start our day off with the right mindset and focus.
The second tradition we have is regarding how we open presents. Most children get lots and lots of presents and they open them all and it makes their whole week, in our family it’s a little different. In order to make sure that we know that Christmas isn’t all about presents, we are only allowed to open one present on Christmas. We can open one the next day, one the next, and so on until they’re gone.
I would 100% agree that Christmas (and especially Santa) has become very commercialized. The holiday originated with the birth of Jesus. The focus was on celebrating how God had sent his son down to Earth to save us all from our sin, it was a celebration of the best gift we ever could’ve been given. Throughout the years somehow a majority of the world has taken Christ out of Christmas. The focus has shifted to a make believe, commercialized, man in a suit who sees you while you’re sleeping and knows when you’re awake.
I think that most people, when they think of Christmas, think of Santa Claus. I’m willing to bet that a majority of the population couldn’t even tell you about the history of Santa, who Saint Nicholas was, or what he represents and stands for. However, if you as someone who believes that Jesus is the main focus of Christmas, they can tell you all about him, they can tell you why he is the focus, what he’s done, and his history.
I think that throughout the years people have taken Christ out of Christmas. Personally, there’s no point in having Christmas if you get rid of the whole purpose and meaning behind it. I think this is why it has become such a commercialized and secularized holiday. I think that most people have lost the reason for the season.