How will you be celebrating this Christmas?

I’m not talking about the food. That wonderful banquet of smells and tastes. The turkey (that for us Aussies feels a little .. odd), the peas, honey carrots. Mum’s pudding that’s been hanging in the pantry for quite a while, with the kids asking why pudding doesn’t stay in the fridge. The custard to go along with the pudding.

And icecream. Let’s never, ever, forget icecream.

I’m not talking about the presents. The irrepressible joy of the kids as they count down the last few days until the explosion of unwrapping, of excessive littering, occurs. The beaming faces of joy and wonder at the cool gifts, sometimes in a pillowcase or stocking, that are theirs for a day or two before moving into a general “share with all the kids” ownership. The afternoons of adults (and kids) playing  with their more cranial gifts; Settlers of Catan, or Risk (or indeed 500, Canasta, Monopoly, Careers, Greed, Carcasonne, or any other card/board/?? game), laughing at the machinations of relies who seem to break out of their actual personality into a crazy hybrid of cunning and ruthlessness.

I’m not talking about the time of togetherness with family and friends. The hugs and kisses that accompany the meeting of relationships. The joy of seeing those folk who’ve nary been in your thoughts for a good long time. The inevitable abrasions of personality and character that are lurking just beneath the surface, that everyone knows are there .. waiting until a quiet moment when they might burst forth and make this time just a little more memorable.

No. I’m not talking about those parts of Christmas, although they are all elements of our celebration.

How will you be celebrating Christmas in the light of you and God?

Christmas is a time, regardless of many things, when we have at least a couple of thoughts of church. Or the baby Jesus. The wise men. The crooked staves. The sheep, and the Shepherds. The carols, sung by candlelight. The tumult of Angels thundering in song.

There is great significance in this time. I realise some folk only celebrate Christmas because of the tradition of gift-giving and family get-togethers. Cool. I realise some folk have absolute dislike for anything to do with religion or talk of God. But the significance is there nonetheless.

We, my wonderful family, celebrate Christmas founded in the birth of the Saviour. That particular point colors the entire time. It’s not just about the food. The family and friends. It’s not just about the fights that we’ll be able to tell our close friends about later on.

It’s His birth that we’ll be celebrating this Christmas. That this day, all those days ago, salvation was born into our world.

Christmas is about Jesus. Turning our thoughts to Him is how we will be celebrating Christmas.

How will you be celebrating Christmas?

Stu Andrews has his own blog here, and with his Family (Wife + 4 Kids) embarks on perilous quests like making stories with the multitude of toys lying around the house in The Plastic Detectives.