I absolutely love this time of year. Ask anyone – my house has been decorated for weeks (hey if I’m going to put in all the time to get it up, I wanna enjoy it…), and I’ve had Christmas music playing since July.

Ok, ok. So maybe I never really stop listening to Christmas music.

Yeah, I am absolutely one of *those* people.

But I’m not crazy. Really. (maybe just a little)

I’ve just always really loved Christmas.

From the Christmas lights (white sparkly all the way!) to my favorite Christmas movies (which is a tie between The Year Without A Santa Claus and White Christmas) it’s always been special.

I have SO MANY memories of Christmas. Baking cookies, giving gifts, decorating the tree, I could go on…

And this year having my own little one able to be just as wrapped up in the excitement makes it all the more special and exciting for me.

(Yeah I know we had the Mini last year too, but let’s be honest, how much can an almost five month old really do…)

From tree getting and decorating:

To hanging the stockings:

  

To jingle bell rock singing mice:

It’s already been a Christmas for the books.

But even with all my Christmas, well let’s just go ahead and call it a (small) obsession, I heard something recently that gave me a rather large pause.

It didn’t start out strange, I was listening to someone describe their family’s Christmas celebration.

All was well until I heard the sentence “we aren’t religious in our household, so we just focus on the commercial side of Christmas.”

Huh. Interesting.

It brought to mind the immortal words of Lucy:

“Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”
(A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965)

Ok, but seriously, it made me think.

When pressed further this individual explained that they focus on giving gifts, being kind and generous to others, and a just general “feeling of happiness.”

Now don’t get me wrong, giving, being kind, helping others, etc, is nice. But isn’t that something we should be doing all year round?

If this is our main focus during the holiday season, I’d venture to say that Christmas really isn’t that special at all.

Now I know you can see my “religious” spiel coming a mile away, but hear me out –

If Christmas is a special time of year, then shouldn’t there be a special reason to celebrate it? Shouldn’t it mean more than just the every day “be happy and kind?”

Yeah, I would argue that it is absolutely more special than that.

We can discuss all the origins of Christmas and it’s traditions for days, but it ultimately boils down to this:

Christmas is not just a time to be nicer than usual to your fellow humans, rather, it is the celebration of Jesus Christ coming to earth to walk as a man, die on a Cross, and give life to a world full of sinners.

And although we add things to this celebration such as Christmas cookies and lights in the windows, the whole point isn’t cookies or decorations.

The whole point is the best gift you’ve ever been given.

The only gift you’ll truly ever need.

And I know it may sound crazy, or cheesy, or whatever adjective you’d like to use, but think about it.

Doesn’t it mean so much more actually having a reason behind the season?