This is excerpted from a talk I gave over twenty years ago
I hope it adds to your Christmas 2007
This is the most wonderful time of the year! The sight of the lights twinkling on houses and through windows! The sound of Christmas music wafting on the breeze! Just the right amount of chill in the air! The faces of children as they look at the mechanical displays in store windows! The sights, sounds and smells of Christmas – isn’t it invigorating! Isn’t it exciting!
Maybe you’re like the harried woman I overheard the other day as she told another lady, “I sometimes wonder why I go through this every year!”
She was referring to the frenzied, hurry-up and wait pace that we associate with Christmas. Since Thanksgiving it seems that everywhere we turn we are reminded of the season. Traffic around shopping malls is at a snails pace. Parking lots are jammed and Salvation Army Bell Ringers await us outside our favorite stores. Holiday music wafts round us as we try to navigate the crowded store aisles in search of that perfect gift for those closest to us, the suitable gift for those not close to us and the acceptable gift for acquaintances. We juggle our schedules to accommodate work, shopping, holiday parties, church activities and family gatherings.
While we might at times share this woman’s sentiments, like her we don’t opt out of the season or the frenzy—instead we forge ahead—because Christmas means so much to so many!
Why, we might ask, does Christmas mean so much to so many? Maybe it’s because Christmas is about special moments. What’s your favorite moment associated with this wonderful season? Perhaps it has to do with a family tradition, or some special activity with your family such as attending Tulsa Ballet’s presentation of The Nutcraker or a performance of A Christmas Carol at the Performing Arts Center. Maybe your special moment is simply watching the Jimmy Stewart movie It’s A Wonderful Life on television with your loved ones.
Yes, we all have special moments and sacred moments that we associate with the season and look forward to every year. These special moments are what makes Christmas mean so much to so many of us. And I might add, by focusing on those special moments we are able to endure the surly shoppers, traffic jams, packed stores and all the other hassles that go with the holiday season. We can endure them because we know that those special moments make it all worthwhile.
Christmas also means so much to so many because it is a time for special memories. My mother shared such a memory the other day. When she was a child growing up in Yell County, Arkansas her grandfather lived with them. Christmas morning didn’t bring lots of presents, but she said that her grandfather made it a point to make it a special time. On Christmas Eve, after she and her brothers and sisters had gone to bed, he would slip out of the house and braving the cold, he would walk down the lane. Earlier in the day, he had hidden some sleigh bells down there and in the darkness he would begin ringing the bells, giving out hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho’s” as he made his way back to the house. You can imagine the effect this had on the bedded down children. After they were fast asleep, he and her father would stuff the stockings with oranges and candy, and to add to the Santa atmosphere they would sit smoking pipes full of “Santa’s Special Tobacco”. When she shares that memory of almost seventy years ago, you can see how much it made Christmas mean to her.
We all have such memories, don’t we? And at this time of year we recall them and we are transported back to a simpler, seemingly more serene time. Special memories make Christmas mean so much to so many of us.
Christmas means so much to so many because the memories, the sacred moments and the special moments merge to make it a magical time of the year for “children of all ages.”
A few years ago, I read a story about why Christmas meant so much to one woman. In the article, she discussed her family’s traditions and the wonderful times they had together. She described how much she looked forward to their annual celebration. Then, she wrote about a tragic automobile accident as her family was returning from a Thanksgiving trip. Her husband, Jim and their two children were killed, she was seriously injured.
Released from the hospital ten days before Christmas, she returned to an empty house. A house once filled with joyous anticipation of Christmas, but now it sat cold and foreboding. Everyday, friends came by and did their best, but her sorrow was magnified by all the wonderful memories that house had helped create during the Christmas season.
In the early hours of the morning, two days before Christmas, grief and fear of going on alone her only companions, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore. She remembered that her husband had kept a handgun in a box but due to her state of mind, couldn’t remember where it was kept.
Determined to end her misery, she began a frantic search of the closets, dumping boxes on the floor. In the large hall closet she dumped first one box, then another—and out fell the pistol. Bending to pick it up, she was brought up short.
The pistol had landed on a stack of old Christmas cards that had been stored in one of the other boxes. It was laying on a card with a picture of the angelic visit to the shepherds. Beneath the picture were the words, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
She said that it was as if God had spoken peace to her mind for the first time since the accident. Her fear of going on alone was gone. Her grief, while still a reality lessened as the thought came to mind, “This year Jim and the kids will celebrate Jesus birthday with Him!” For the first time in weeks she felt a sense of peace and that everything was going to be all right. With tears running down her checks she sat outside the closet, allowed the message of Christmas to penetrate her whole being and as it did, Christmas came to mean so much more to her. Imagine the shock her friends experienced when, the next day they stopped by to check on her and found the house fully decorated with the seasonal ornamentation that they had seen in happier times.
Why does Christmas mean so much to so many? For some it is the warmth of memories as they transport us to another, simpler time. For others it is the special moments that titillate our senses and appreciation of the season. We all have our memories and moments. But to really understand why Christmas means so much to so many, we must be like the woman I just told you about and move beyond the memories and moments to the transforming message “Unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Robert Hidde
Maybe you’re like the harried woman I overheard the other day as she told another lady, “I sometimes wonder why I go through this every year!”
She was referring to the frenzied, hurry-up and wait pace that we associate with Christmas. Since Thanksgiving it seems that everywhere we turn we are reminded of the season. Traffic around shopping malls is at a snails pace. Parking lots are jammed and Salvation Army Bell Ringers await us outside our favorite stores. Holiday music wafts round us as we try to navigate the crowded store aisles in search of that perfect gift for those closest to us, the suitable gift for those not close to us and the acceptable gift for acquaintances. We juggle our schedules to accommodate work, shopping, holiday parties, church activities and family gatherings.
While we might at times share this woman’s sentiments, like her we don’t opt out of the season or the frenzy—instead we forge ahead—because Christmas means so much to so many!
Why, we might ask, does Christmas mean so much to so many? Maybe it’s because Christmas is about special moments. What’s your favorite moment associated with this wonderful season? Perhaps it has to do with a family tradition, or some special activity with your family such as attending Tulsa Ballet’s presentation of The Nutcraker or a performance of A Christmas Carol at the Performing Arts Center. Maybe your special moment is simply watching the Jimmy Stewart movie It’s A Wonderful Life on television with your loved ones.
Yes, we all have special moments and sacred moments that we associate with the season and look forward to every year. These special moments are what makes Christmas mean so much to so many of us. And I might add, by focusing on those special moments we are able to endure the surly shoppers, traffic jams, packed stores and all the other hassles that go with the holiday season. We can endure them because we know that those special moments make it all worthwhile.
Christmas also means so much to so many because it is a time for special memories. My mother shared such a memory the other day. When she was a child growing up in Yell County, Arkansas her grandfather lived with them. Christmas morning didn’t bring lots of presents, but she said that her grandfather made it a point to make it a special time. On Christmas Eve, after she and her brothers and sisters had gone to bed, he would slip out of the house and braving the cold, he would walk down the lane. Earlier in the day, he had hidden some sleigh bells down there and in the darkness he would begin ringing the bells, giving out hearty “Ho, Ho, Ho’s” as he made his way back to the house. You can imagine the effect this had on the bedded down children. After they were fast asleep, he and her father would stuff the stockings with oranges and candy, and to add to the Santa atmosphere they would sit smoking pipes full of “Santa’s Special Tobacco”. When she shares that memory of almost seventy years ago, you can see how much it made Christmas mean to her.
We all have such memories, don’t we? And at this time of year we recall them and we are transported back to a simpler, seemingly more serene time. Special memories make Christmas mean so much to so many of us.
Christmas means so much to so many because the memories, the sacred moments and the special moments merge to make it a magical time of the year for “children of all ages.”
A few years ago, I read a story about why Christmas meant so much to one woman. In the article, she discussed her family’s traditions and the wonderful times they had together. She described how much she looked forward to their annual celebration. Then, she wrote about a tragic automobile accident as her family was returning from a Thanksgiving trip. Her husband, Jim and their two children were killed, she was seriously injured.
Released from the hospital ten days before Christmas, she returned to an empty house. A house once filled with joyous anticipation of Christmas, but now it sat cold and foreboding. Everyday, friends came by and did their best, but her sorrow was magnified by all the wonderful memories that house had helped create during the Christmas season.
In the early hours of the morning, two days before Christmas, grief and fear of going on alone her only companions, she decided she couldn’t take it anymore. She remembered that her husband had kept a handgun in a box but due to her state of mind, couldn’t remember where it was kept.
Determined to end her misery, she began a frantic search of the closets, dumping boxes on the floor. In the large hall closet she dumped first one box, then another—and out fell the pistol. Bending to pick it up, she was brought up short.
The pistol had landed on a stack of old Christmas cards that had been stored in one of the other boxes. It was laying on a card with a picture of the angelic visit to the shepherds. Beneath the picture were the words, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
She said that it was as if God had spoken peace to her mind for the first time since the accident. Her fear of going on alone was gone. Her grief, while still a reality lessened as the thought came to mind, “This year Jim and the kids will celebrate Jesus birthday with Him!” For the first time in weeks she felt a sense of peace and that everything was going to be all right. With tears running down her checks she sat outside the closet, allowed the message of Christmas to penetrate her whole being and as it did, Christmas came to mean so much more to her. Imagine the shock her friends experienced when, the next day they stopped by to check on her and found the house fully decorated with the seasonal ornamentation that they had seen in happier times.
Why does Christmas mean so much to so many? For some it is the warmth of memories as they transport us to another, simpler time. For others it is the special moments that titillate our senses and appreciation of the season. We all have our memories and moments. But to really understand why Christmas means so much to so many, we must be like the woman I just told you about and move beyond the memories and moments to the transforming message “Unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
Robert Hidde
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