First of all, Merry Christmas, to everyone out there who celebrates it! I hope your day was as special as mine.

The holidays are always a very interesting time of reflection for me. It always seems a bit contradictory how the time of the year that is theoretically supposed to be about family and friends and love and the most important things is often completely drowned out by materialism and stress. The holiday season in America seems to me to be a distinct social phenomenon that starts at 4AM on Black Friday in still-dark mall parking lots and continues through post-Christmas sales. Sometimes, through all the parties and forced present-buying and mall visits and holiday hustle and bustle, the meaning of Christmas gets lost. I hear people say that they spend so much time frantically “preparing” for the holidays that they rarely manage to actually enjoy them.

I missed the holiday season this year, arriving home on December 23, and not walking into a single store besides a supermarket on Christmas Eve. Part of me is sad to have missed the holidays–the anticipation and buildup, the red cups at Starbucks, the countdown to Christmas, preferably with advent calendars with chocolate in them. I haven’t been in the States for the holiday season since 2007! But with everything else stripped away, it has given me a chance to reflect on what Christmas truly means to me.

First and for most, for me, Christmas means the birth of Jesus, the son of God who I believe to be my savior. This is the Christmas story, the good tidings of great joy. My faith is the cornerstone of who I am, and so for me, to make Christmas about anything else BUT Jesus falls flat. For me, Christmas is about God giving us the greatest gift we could ever receive. This is how I feel. Many people celebrate Christmas who are not Christians–the day has become MUCH bigger than that and that is completely okay–everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. But for me…

Christmas is not about commercialism.

It is about God and love and hope.

For me, Christmas is not about spending money.

It is about spending quality time with friends and family, people that you love.

For me, Christmas is not about rushing around from place to place or party to party.

It’s about taking a slow walk through the neighborhood with no other purpose but to look at the lights and the luminaries.

For me, Christmas isn’t about going to church to see a rock concert.

It’s about celebrating with hundreds of other people who are rejoicing in the wonders of His love and the company of loved ones.

For me, Christmas is not about big fancy dinners.

It’s about peanut butter blossoms for breakfast and puppy chow for dessert.

For me, Christmas isn’t about a huge perfect tree with two-tone matching ornaments perfectly spaced.

It’s about a Charlie Brown-type tree, balding and slanted, weighed down with an eclectic collection of ornaments produced mostly in elementary school art classes. That’s a perfect Christmas tree.

For me, Christmas isn’t about big stacks of presents with impeccable store-done gift wrapping.

It’s about personal, thoughtful gifts wrapped in Nordstrom boxes that have been used every Christmas for half a decade (or more).

It’s about showing you care with an offer from the heart, be it a gift or kind words, a comforting touch, or genuine interest in concern in another.

(Caption: “To make you feel pretty, oh so pretty. Also so you don’t stink.” My sister is looking out for me, coming back from Africa and wanting nothing more but to “feel pretty” after two years of sweat, pimples and bad hair.)

Christmas isn’t about new iPhones (that I still can’t figure out) or new running jackets or Starbucks cards…

It’s about pigs in a blanket on the couch with the family and the dogs and Home Alone on the TiVo.

It’s about blankets and hugs and cocoa.

It’s about midnight pancakes on Christmas Eve, tea, pajamas and snuggles.

It’s about silly traditions like calling up the chimney to Santa and ringing the jingle bells incessantly.

It’s about pausing to take account of what’s important in your life.

It’s about recognizing that while there may be many things that we want, there are very few things that we actually need.

For me, the love of family and friends and a little bit of faith in God and in the world is all I need.

Sometimes that gets lost in the craziness and the stress of our daily lives.

But if there is any time to refocus and take pause, to give thanks, to tell people that you love them and that your life would not be the same without them…

It’s Christmas.

For me, Christmas isn’t about what I don’t have or what I wish I could afford or wish I could be given.

It’s about realizing that everything I need I already have right here. The love of my family, the love of God, the faith that there is beauty yet to be revealed in this life–

love

faith

peace

harmony

grace

hope

love.

For me, that is what Christmas is about.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

What does Christmas mean to you?

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