My daughter and I watched a funny and wholesome TV movie the other day. It was a kids’ show on a kids’ network. Merry Christmas Drake and Josh on Nickelodeon. The plot was basically that one of them was playing Santa in a mall and promised a cute little girl, who was a foster child, the best Christmas ever.
The show was really funny and we enjoyed it, but there was a line that troubled me: one of the boys said, “What is Christmas all about? If I asked a hundred people, I suspect I would get a hundred different answers.”
Really? We can all have our own ideas of what Christmas is all about? Sure enough, the movie presented several wonderful things that we associate with Christmas, like snow and being with family and friends, but never mentioned the birth of Christ. He didn’t ask, “What does Christmas mean to you?” but “what is it all about?” Remember when Charlie Brown pondered the true meaning of Christmas and Linus quoted from the Christmas story found in the Bible? Well, that was 42 years ago. Today, the media seems afraid to offend anyone.
What is Christmas all about? According to the dictionary, Christmas is defined as: noun. 1. The Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus. 2. December 25, the day on which this feast is celebrated. From Old English Cristes Maesse, Christ’s Festival.
So Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Its meaning is not open to any other interpretation.
Christmas has obviously become too big a deal for just one day. It is a whole season. And, as life would have it, there are several holidays and Holy days near this time. That’s okay. If Drake and Josh’s movie had been called Happy Holidays Drake and Josh, they might have asked about the true meaning of the holidays. A hundred people just might give a hundred different answers like Hanukah, Kwanzaa, lights, shopping, parties, or simply winter break. These are all perfectly wonderful events, but Christmas is about the birth of Christ.
Christmas is the 800-pound gorilla on the calendar. We plan our whole year around it then drop what we are doing and head home to celebrate it. We spend more money than we have to embrace it. In fact, our whole economy is supported by it. Retailers might never make a profit without it, and that trickles into every aspect of the economy. It is a trillion-dollar bail-out each and every year.
And if I may say so, Jesus is the 800-pound gorilla in the pages of History. We acknowledge his birth every time we write the date. His book is the number one best seller of all time and will never be bested. More books have been written about him than any other topic. More human events have been shaped by his words than any other person’s. More money has been given in his name than for any other reason. And more people have lived their lives for him than for any other person.
So what is Christmas all about? If Drake or Josh would ask me, I would tell them that it is a celebration of God Himself, coming to earth as a child, just as it was prophesied, to humbly become of us, to teach us how to treat each other, and to die on our behalf, paying for our sins so we can have peace with God and live eternally in heaven.
That’s what Christmas is all about. Everything else is just window dressing. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from my family to yours.
The show was really funny and we enjoyed it, but there was a line that troubled me: one of the boys said, “What is Christmas all about? If I asked a hundred people, I suspect I would get a hundred different answers.”
Really? We can all have our own ideas of what Christmas is all about? Sure enough, the movie presented several wonderful things that we associate with Christmas, like snow and being with family and friends, but never mentioned the birth of Christ. He didn’t ask, “What does Christmas mean to you?” but “what is it all about?” Remember when Charlie Brown pondered the true meaning of Christmas and Linus quoted from the Christmas story found in the Bible? Well, that was 42 years ago. Today, the media seems afraid to offend anyone.
What is Christmas all about? According to the dictionary, Christmas is defined as: noun. 1. The Christian feast commemorating the birth of Jesus. 2. December 25, the day on which this feast is celebrated. From Old English Cristes Maesse, Christ’s Festival.
So Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Its meaning is not open to any other interpretation.
Christmas has obviously become too big a deal for just one day. It is a whole season. And, as life would have it, there are several holidays and Holy days near this time. That’s okay. If Drake and Josh’s movie had been called Happy Holidays Drake and Josh, they might have asked about the true meaning of the holidays. A hundred people just might give a hundred different answers like Hanukah, Kwanzaa, lights, shopping, parties, or simply winter break. These are all perfectly wonderful events, but Christmas is about the birth of Christ.
Christmas is the 800-pound gorilla on the calendar. We plan our whole year around it then drop what we are doing and head home to celebrate it. We spend more money than we have to embrace it. In fact, our whole economy is supported by it. Retailers might never make a profit without it, and that trickles into every aspect of the economy. It is a trillion-dollar bail-out each and every year.
And if I may say so, Jesus is the 800-pound gorilla in the pages of History. We acknowledge his birth every time we write the date. His book is the number one best seller of all time and will never be bested. More books have been written about him than any other topic. More human events have been shaped by his words than any other person’s. More money has been given in his name than for any other reason. And more people have lived their lives for him than for any other person.
So what is Christmas all about? If Drake or Josh would ask me, I would tell them that it is a celebration of God Himself, coming to earth as a child, just as it was prophesied, to humbly become of us, to teach us how to treat each other, and to die on our behalf, paying for our sins so we can have peace with God and live eternally in heaven.
That’s what Christmas is all about. Everything else is just window dressing. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from my family to yours.
(The picture came from my friend Rick in Las Vegas. That's the palm tree in his front yard during this week's rare snow event.)
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