The True Meaning of Christmas

The time of year is always coming around and with so much fun and excitement. Families are shopping and enjoying each others company. Sweethearts are always looking for mistletoe and kids count the presents they eagerly await to open on Christmas day. Christmas is the time of year that nobody would miss with the snow and seeing loved ones and sitting by a roaring fire with a mug of hot chocolate. Then when Christmas day finally comes it's time to see what lies behind the wrapped presents. Kids with new toys and candy. The father with the certain appliance he always wanted. Mom with her new jewelry and cooking supplies and the teen aged girl and boy with their new clothing or electric guitar.
This has been the tradition of Christmas for a long time. But now a days it seems to be the only thing that people look forward to; the shopping and getting this and that and on Christmas after everything has been unwrapped, it becomes and normal day of the week. We will play and use the things that we got and then get bored with them. Is that all Christmas is about?
No. Christmas means much more than that. Christmas was about the Savior and about how he saved us all from sin. Which is why we look to serve one another this time of year like the Savior did for us. Here is a story about how a man found the True Meaning of Christmas
A man walked down the cold streets of the city. A fun tradition of his since he was a boy was to look at all the windows and see the toys and Christmas things. When he walked by an old candy store that was now a store called "unnecessary things." A salesman walked out and invited him in. When he walked into the store, the salesman started to try to sale him some of his unnecessary things. "It's a bargain," the salesman said. "Its only half of and you get your money back if you don't like it. Merry Christmas!" The man declined and said he was looking for the true meaning of Christmas. The salesman looked at him puzzled and stayed that he didn't have any of those so the man left. As he continued down the street, salesman kept inviting him in and trying to sale their products to him. He refused and asked if they had the true meaning of Christmas and their answer was no every time. All of a sudden, the man lost interest in his walk and decided to walk home. He missed being able to see the holiday spirit in all of the shops as he walked by and now it seemed like everybody was just trying to sale their products with reduced prices. As he walked up the street, he came across a small shack at the end of the last street that was near his home. The shack was called "Christmas Spirit." So the man walked in and found out that the shack was in fact Christmas Spirit. Everything that he remembered as a kid was lined out on the shelves. An old woman came up to him and asked him if he was looking for something special. He replied he was looking for the true meaning of Christmas. The old woman smiled and and beckoned him to the rear of the shack. In the back was a set up of some dolls. The doll figure of Joseph and Mary. The doll figures of the sheperds and the wise men and the animals of the stable. But in a manger of hay he recognized the tiniest doll as the Savior of the world. As he looked at the tiny doll figure he said "Thank you dear Jesus for your pure life. Because of you I know I can be healed from sin of the world." He had in fact found the true meaning of Christmas. He treasured the scene in his heart and thanked the old woman and went on his way.
The true meaning of Christmas is not about what we get from shopping, but remembering who came into the world so that we could be forgiven of our sins. Christmas time is about Christ and what he did for us. So forget about getting the most expensive thing to give someone because its half off, but rather serve them from the heart as the Savior did for us. That's the true meaning of Christmas.
-Merry Christmas