The Meaning of Christmas

This Christmas was a very different one than those in the past. Normally, the day after Thanksgiving, I would get immediately in the Christmas spirit. I couldn't wait to listen to Christmas carols and watch my favorite Christmas movies. We used to go pick out the perfect live tree the day after Thanksgiving and would spend the day decorating it and the house. We went to the wild lights at the zoo. I loved thinking of creative gifts to give. I just loved the Christmas spirit. Church services seemed more meaningful and beautiful. And, for the most part, people seemed to be in a happier mood. They were more apt to smile for no reason, or to let a car go in front of them. I seemed to notice these behaviors and would partake in them myself.

I'm sure I lacked a bit of the Christmas spirit because I was comparing this Christmas to those in my recent past. And maybe I was partially in denial that it was really here this soon. It took my family awhile to put up our tree and I would say that we didn't really get in the Christmas spirit until a week or so before. We looked at the Christmas display downtown and went to a beautiful Christmas Choir concert. I went to a few festive parties and we finally drove around town to look at Christmas lights, and that all helped boost the spirit. Then we made our Christmas cookies, a favorite tradition.

I never made it to the zoo and I watched only one Christmas movie, and didn't catch the Christmas music station on my satellite radio until a week before. None of us did our Christmas shopping until the day before -which has NEVER happened. But, even if it was a little off at first, I am so glad that we didn't miss out on the spirit of the season entirely. It might have been delayed, but we finally got in the full spirit of Christmas.

No matter the reasons behind the Christmas season feeling a little less than Merry at first, it ended well. I ended my day yesterday fully living and understanding the meaning of Christmas. We (my parents and I) spent Christmas Eve with only my grandparents -- I remember when my cousins and I were all little, we would have a visit from Santa and the floor would be covered with wrapping paper. This year we didn't open any presents, we just spent time together. My parents and I spent our Christmas morning together and didn't have a lot of gifts to open but I wore my Santa hat and we ate cinnamon rolls, both traditions for as many years as I can remember. I literally could not think of anything to put on my Christmas list for my parents to get me, and vice versa, so we just counted our blessings. How blessed we are that we don't need anything. {Sure, I got some gift cards and money but probably my favorite gift was my Christmas card from my Dad -- "Meg, I hope your new year is bigger and better than this year. Remember your Mom and I are always behind you 100%. Always have been and always will be." -- It doesn't get any better than that.}

After our morning together, my grandparents came down and we all went to my aunt and uncle's. We have been going there for Christmas dinner for years and years. Deaths in the family and family growing apart have caused the numbers to dwindle a bit, which is sad. But it was so nice to go back there yesterday, and remember the tradition. It was nice to visit with my family that I don't see often and reminisce, laugh, eat and play Euchre.

When my parents and I got home, our electric went off. It was a nuisance but they assured us it would be on again soon -- and it was a couple hours later -- but I wasn't even mad. We had been looking forward to relaxing and watching some TV. I didn't want to use my wireless, my computer or my cell so the batteries wouldn't die. So it was an unexpected break from technology that I relished in. I decided to read a book. {The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry which I've read in English and French so many times I lost count. Everyone should read it. The lesson of the book fits the meaning of Christmas -- "One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eye."}

We built a fire and, just as my Dad was getting the generator hooked up, the electric came back on. We reflected on the lesson: Yes, we were without electric on Christmas, but someone was out there fixing our problem, away from their family and in the cold, on Christmas. Yes, we couldn't use our water (shower, toilet, anything) and it was getting colder but we had a roof over our head. The generator wouldn't have powered the whole house or lasted forever, but we had it. We were together, in want of nothing, on Christmas. Not every family is lucky enough to say that -- whether due to deployment, deaths, hospitalization, working 1st responders, distance -- there are a lot of families separated at the holidays. The poor and homeless -- they couldn't provide the things they wanted or needed; they didn't have warmth, or a feast to share.

My family was provided for and together on Christmas and had the best gift of all - love. And that is the true meaning of Christmas.