A Gift of Christmas

A Gift of Christmas.

It seems that a gift of Christmas would be the best gift to give to some of my friends, or even to all of my friends this Christmas. Let me explain. I grew you in a home where we didn’t have a lot of money to buy presents for Christmas. We were very happy with having everyone home for Christmas and with having special holiday food. My parents stopped buying us little presents, when I was about 6 or 7 years of age and it was really hard to understand that change, as a child. You can see how few years of gifts, had a big impact on me as a child. So from then on, I began to lie in my school classes telling others that I got a present, when in reality I didn’t. I was ashamed of telling my peers and teachers, that I was at home with my family, simply celebrating the Baby Jesus- all that I had at that time. All that I always had. I also grew up in a country, where most people (90%) knew what Christmas was about. It was about Jesus coming into the world, and a beginning of a new story of hope and restoration for human kind.

When I was 18 and came to US, my perspective was about to be put to test. I mean real test and since then, I have been put to test every year. You see, in my country people spoke about Jesus’ birth and told that story to one another. Here I am faced with the fact that not everyone, who celebrates Christmas realizes that it is about the Virgin’s birth of the Messiah, who came here for you and for me, specifically. This breaks my heart this year. I came here for high school and during that time, buying presents to everyone was easy, because I had the money and time and was ignorant of all the distraction that I was getting into. When I got into college my eyes began to open slowly, partially because buying presents became harder for financial reasons, and also because most of my friends in this country (including me now), already have everything we need to live. And as you may know, most of the Christmas presents are unnecessary. If, I lived without something, that is not a necessity, yesterday and today, I can probably live another day without it tomorrow. I don’t think that I would need to get it as a present. Sure it could make my life easier, but it can also make my life worse, by making me lazier, more isolated, and more prideful.

The past two years were hard for me when it comes to Christmas. Together with some of my friends in college, we begin to stress out about Christmas (because of the gifts) during October. We know that people will want presents, or expect them, not because they need them or they want us to buy them, but because it is a part of tradition. Even if people say they don’t want them, it is still a part of tradition, and traditions are hard to break. And this tradition of gifts is so enforced and practiced in this country today, that it is now getting a greater emphasis than the tradition of Baby Birth. This year, I don’t want to be distracted by the cost of presents, or by the number of people that I care about and want to get them something. This year, I want to be fully anointed by the powerful story, which when I was a kid, I got so excited about! This year I want to give my friends a Gift of Christmas.

What I mean?
I want to take a risk and share this story as I remember it with those who forgot about it, with those who over the years became distracted by the enforced tradition of gifts and those who never heard the truth of what Christmas is really about. Friends, we have only about 6 weeks before the miraculous night of the Baby Birth. We all must know someone who will either be alone this Christmas or someone who never celebrated it, like believers do. I want to take the risk and share the message of Christ with those in my life, who for the first time might finally be able to hear the truth and celebrate the Christmas as Baby Birth event. I want to give them the priceless and yet, what seems of no cost to me, gift for Christmas: The Gift of Christmas.

You see, when I was a child, I didn’t have a choice but to know and believe that Christmas was about Jesus. But when I came here and was bombarded with all of the material presents and all of the stress that comes with getting the right present for someone, it was really easy for me to get distracted and put the shopping as my priority, rather than calming down my spirit and preparing it to celebrate the Baby. I am not ashamed anymore to tell people, that I didn’t have presents. Not because I get them now, but because, that helped me to remember the importance of that one night in a year, where there is peace and where there a Baby was born, specifically for me. The Baby that saved my life and restored my soul. Baby named Jesus.