All these things and more, oh
That’s what Christmas means to me my love
Stevie Wonder
The amazing Stevie Wonder penned the perfect picture over classic keys of what Christmas meant to him. We all have this internal image that is taken directly from a “It’s a Wonderful Life” of how the holiday is supposed to look.
Truth is sometimes we end up more like little Ralphie wrapped in pink bunny pj’s than the Hallmark memory we long to make.
As I have “decked the halls”, hung mistletoe and wished for a “White Christmas”, I have also took some time to unwrap what Christmas means to me.
Christmas means Christ. While the nativity set in front of my tree pictures the infant that Mary held close on that “Midnight Clear”, it is the God-man that is celebrated. The promised king wrapped in the skin of an infant as “O Come Emmanuel”, God with us. That skin would be broken and left bleeding that I may have life abundant.
Christmas means kids…and I have five. Three boys, two girls. The glow of their eyes as white lights of “O Tatenbuam” bounce back reflect the innocence that remains. Their juvenile hearts still capture what Christmas can be. They may not still hold a belief “That Santa Claus is Coming to Town” but the magic of the season still remains. It is captured in the hope of “Jingle Bells” and a “Sleigh Ride”.
Christmas means family. I have spent too many years isolated like an Eskimo in a “Winter Wonderland”. “I’ll be home for Christmas” waking up next to my wife to the sound of sluggish teenage children ready to tear open presents.
Christmas means reflection. Seemingly not so mutually exclusive Christmas is coupled with New Years in tandem. The sound of Andy Williams singing “Happy Holidays” often triggers reflection on the year that has passed. And the critical question of whether “old acquaintances should be forgot”. It is a time to look where have gone in the previous 360 plus days and set a course for the next circle around the sun.
This or Last…I will always, 100% of the time prefer This Christmas or Last Christmas. Sorry Wham!
That’s what Christmas means to me my love…so what does Christmas mean to you?
