What Christmas Means to me

I grew up in a Christian household, and Christmas always had a different meaning to me than what one might consider some of the “norms” surrounding the holiday. Those norms include the idea of Santa Claus, how Christmas celebrates gift-giving, or even that a star must go on top of your Christmas tree. Now, you may have heard from a biblical perspective that Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. However, the Bible does not state the exact day or time of year Jesus was born. Jesus being born on December 25 is just a theory that was created many years ago by a Pope and is based on the time frame of nine months after his crucifixion. However my family, and most christain families, see christmas as a holiday to celebrate the birth of jesus in general. My family also does not put a star at the top of our Christmas tree, we put an angel. This specific practice comes from when angels visited Joseph and the Virgin Mary about the upcoming birth of Jesus; and on the night of his birth, angels appeared in the sky over Bethlehem to announce his arrival to the world.

As far as Christmas traditions go, my family has a couple. On Christmas Eve, we always get new pajamas to wear that night. Then, in the mornings, we make cinnamon rolls from scratch for breakfast. Another tradition is setting up my grandparent’s Christmas tree. My whole family gets together about a week before Christmas, and we put up my grandparent’s Christmas tree and decorate their house. My family doesn’t go to church as much together as we did growing up, but going to the Christmas service is something we do every year. My favorite Christmas tradition that my family does is a gingerbread house contest. It is my favorite tradition because I usually always win, and currently, I am on a three-year winning streak.

My parents never told my siblings and me the story of Santa, or ever tried convincing us Santa was real. We always knew that our presents came from our parents. I was always completely fine with this. Personally, I have always found the idea of Santa Claus to be quite creepy, and used in manipulative ways by parents to get their children to behave. Why tell your children that a big man named Santa watches them all year long, and if they do anything wrong, they get put on a naughty list and will get 0 presents for Christmas? I just never understood the appeal

As mentioned in the article on Santa Claus, it is a consumer-driven idea used to get people to spend copious amounts of money on gifts for their kids. Growing up, and to this day, my mother has only ever gotten each of my siblings and me the same amount of gifts each year. Each of us gets the same amount, usually 4 or 5 presents each, but no one ever gets more or less. Last year, we got three presents each; however, we typically get more gifts from our grandparents and other family members. My mother never wanted us to think Christmas was a celebration of gifts or worldly things. It has always been a time for family, friends, and worship.