by Maria Rogers

Created on: May 18, 2009   Last Updated: May 19, 2009

Are you kidding? What's Christmas? It's become just another excuse to give presents, have parties and get drunk. Christmas has been slowly losing it's meaning for many years now. We're not evening allowed to say "Merry Christmas" when you answer the phone at work anymore. They say it's not politically correct.

What ever happened to the Christmas's of twenty years ago? A Christmas where the family would celebrate the birth of our King. I remember when I was a child and my family got together to put up the Christmas tree, the day after Thanksgiving. My dad would do all the lights and the rest of us did the ornaments and my mom would put the angel at the top of the tree. Afterwards, my dad would get his bible and read the story of the baby Jesus' birth. We would always ask questions about Jesus and why he was born to ultimately die for us. My dad would do his best to explain the true meaning of Christmas to all of us. We all grew up in that same tradition and taught our own children the pure joy of Christmas.

I remember that my favorite decoration was always the Nativity scene. I would place it under the tree so the baby Jesus would be well protected. My own children learned the true meaning of Christmas and to this day hold it dear to their hearts, by continuing those traditions.

Today, however, Christmas is the time of year when the biggest sales go on. Stores compete with each other to see who could outsell the other one before the holiday is over. Then after the holiday has gone by, they try to salvage whatever they can before the year ends. People are no longer pleasant in the streets and never is there a kind word said between two strangers.

Yes, Christmas has lost it's meaning in a big way. But I'm sure that those who profit from that don't really mind either. They're making their money and laughing all the way to the bank, as it were. While the children of today don't even realize what they are missing.

I've observed people during this time of year and it sickens me to think that they will never really know why this particular holiday is so very important. I think that Miracle on 34th Street did a very good job in showing how Christmas was becoming a comercialized event, rather than an actual season of celebration where give joy for the birth of our Savior. The one who came, just to die for us and cleanse us of our sins.

Maybe we should put forth a bit more effort during that time of year to show others, especially the young, what the season is truly about. Then maybe, just maybe we could turn things around to the way they should really be.

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