What Christmas means to me:
Christmas is a time of remembering the birth of Our Lord, although it was a pagan ritual to begin with. I taught all my grandchildren to sing happy birthday to Baby Jesus, and 3 of them, from different families, at different times, sang this to the Baby Jesus in each of the nativity scenes that I have around the home. It was so wonderful to see this as they each were either 3 or 4 yrs old.
It is also about being thankful for the last year that we experienced with our Lord. It is tradition and brings us closer to our families, no matter how far away they may be. It is a time to be peaceful and grateful, a time for new reflections of love.
In our home we have statues of Santa kneeling before the Christ child in His manger as Santa is based on a bishop who loved the Lord centuries ago. We also have a tradition of writing little notes of good actions we are doing for the Lord and put them on the tree, as gifts for Him (the tree is also pagan, but as St Patrick in Ireland did, we use it to show the Trinity...3 points, 1 tree...).
I guess what I am trying to say, if your heart is right before the Lord, He does not care what day you use or not use to remember Him and His birth. We are to keep holy every day for Him. And I also remind the kids that without the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, Christmas is just a birthday of a little Jewish Boy.
Whether this day was chosen to be on a pagan holiday or not, is not something that I worry about. It is rather what you do with this day. We know that Our Lord was probably born in the spring or fall, as it was cold that day, but not too cold for the sheep to be on the hills with their shepherds. (I like thinking that it was in the spring, close to Passover, bringing full circle to Our Lord’s life. My theory, not anyone else
)
My prayer is that as we celebrate Thanksgiving this month, we prepare our hearts for the coming celebration of the Birth of Our Lord. We are grateful for our country and realize that without the faith the Pilgrims brought, there would not be a Thanksgiving to celebrate.
Christmas is a time of remembering the birth of Our Lord, although it was a pagan ritual to begin with. I taught all my grandchildren to sing happy birthday to Baby Jesus, and 3 of them, from different families, at different times, sang this to the Baby Jesus in each of the nativity scenes that I have around the home. It was so wonderful to see this as they each were either 3 or 4 yrs old.
It is also about being thankful for the last year that we experienced with our Lord. It is tradition and brings us closer to our families, no matter how far away they may be. It is a time to be peaceful and grateful, a time for new reflections of love.
In our home we have statues of Santa kneeling before the Christ child in His manger as Santa is based on a bishop who loved the Lord centuries ago. We also have a tradition of writing little notes of good actions we are doing for the Lord and put them on the tree, as gifts for Him (the tree is also pagan, but as St Patrick in Ireland did, we use it to show the Trinity...3 points, 1 tree...).
I guess what I am trying to say, if your heart is right before the Lord, He does not care what day you use or not use to remember Him and His birth. We are to keep holy every day for Him. And I also remind the kids that without the Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, Christmas is just a birthday of a little Jewish Boy.
Whether this day was chosen to be on a pagan holiday or not, is not something that I worry about. It is rather what you do with this day. We know that Our Lord was probably born in the spring or fall, as it was cold that day, but not too cold for the sheep to be on the hills with their shepherds. (I like thinking that it was in the spring, close to Passover, bringing full circle to Our Lord’s life. My theory, not anyone else
) My prayer is that as we celebrate Thanksgiving this month, we prepare our hearts for the coming celebration of the Birth of Our Lord. We are grateful for our country and realize that without the faith the Pilgrims brought, there would not be a Thanksgiving to celebrate.
