The Gift of Xmas’s Past and Future

I read the *“Twas’ the Night Before Christmas”* last eve to my four grandsons while they were all snuggled up in their beds about to nod off into a dreamland of presents, candy, and fun, hoping to wake up to a wondrous day to follow.  The cookies and milk were set faithfully on the table near the tree so Santa could snack while delivering their presents. Evidence of this will be the half-eaten cookie, and unfinished milk when they scramble out of bed wide eyed and expectant. Their eyes were a twinkle, their smiles were wide, listening attentively to the power of my words as I read this classic book. They are the innocent and our loving children that are to inherit our earth.

Christmas is about family. When Mary gave birth to Jesus, she started a family. Families supersede all else in this world except love and religion. Our world is one big family; our country is one big family. Besides immediate family we also have families of friends, colleagues, and extended family.

We normally think of family as just being immediate, but look around you, family is everywhere. Family is a word that we use to describe the people and animals we love that surround our lives.

Did you ever notice that during Thanksgiving, Christmas, Ramadan, Hanukkah, and a multitude of other observances, we tend to gravitate towards our families? We head towards our roots, where we feel safe and loved. We always have an urge to go back to our roots where we are reminded about the importance of family and love. We go to church or temples to feel the love of God because his family is all around us where we feel protected and never alone. God always includes us in his family where he is the all-encompassing.

Older people who are alone in difficult times that cannot be with their families might only have memories to remind them of better times but no sugar plums dancing in their heads. The times of Christmas past or the reminder of past family get togethers might all they have to curb their loneliness.

“Blood is thicker than water” so the saying goes. What does this mean exactly? : It means that loyalties and relationships in what we consider our families are our most powerful calling.

Christmas is a reminder that there is someone in this world or out of this world who loves us no matter what, because Christmas was the start of God’s noticeable family on earth. If you are seeking love, church is usually just a block away.

What a gift Christmas is! It grounds us back into reality. All year we try to be someone that we want the world to know, to perceive, yet when we head back home, to our roots, the people who know us best, see us in a different, more honest light, “The Light of truth.”

The Light of Truth can also be the Star of Bethlehem or Christmas star, God’s path to his family. Pick a star as your favorite so when you are down in the dumps you just have to look up. When you need love the most in your life and you feel all alone, don’t forget to look up, your family is watching over you.

If you still truly don’t feel the love from above, hug a Christmas tree.