They Can’t Take My Christmas

“On a quiet evening watching winter snowflakes fall –
The candle in the window casting shadows on the wall.
The village streets are empty on this snowy Christmas Eve;
Oh to be a child again and see the wonder of it all.”

The house is dark and quiet. I sit by the window watching the snowflakes drift down from a dark, winter sky and silently fall onto the empty street. The only light in the room is a solitary Christmas candle softly flickering in the darkness. I am looking not at the candle but at the candle’s reflection in the window – its flame mingles with the snowflakes outside; its warm glow melding with snowflakes create a magical scene. It’s Christmas Eve. And the world is a lovely place – peaceful and silent.

Tonight, in my little town, the streets are quiet and empty. There are no tire tracks in the snow. No footprints on the walkways. No one is out walking. There have been no passers-by this night. The distant, soft light from a streetlamp, glows like a lonely sentry, casting its shadows on a snowy landscape on a quiet winter night.

I think about Christmas and how much it has changed since I was a child. I think about the things I miss most about being a child at Christmas. I think I miss the innocence the most. How desperately different the world is now. It makes me sad to think that perhaps I have played a part in the change.

Today, some think that Christmas is nothing more than a vast commercial enterprise; which exists solely for the purpose of generating huge profits for a fortunate few. When I was a child, the Christmas season lasted perhaps two weeks – and it was a long wait for me then. Now, the Christmas Shopping Season has expanded to a point where stores put Christmas decorations up the same day they take Halloween decorations down. How did we let this happen?

The snowflakes, grow larger and fill the sky with luminous puffs of light as they fall through the pale, blue glow of a distant street light. I can almost hear the faint sound they make as they fall gently down upon my quiet town. The reflection of the candle and the softly falling snow, together, in my window, paint a lovely picture on this silent and lovely winter night.

Political correctness would have us tear down our Christmas displays and do away with the word “Christmas” altogether. Advertising agencies, charged with making as much money for their clients as possible, have done their best to convince us that real love is more about a $5000.00 diamond necklace or a $15,000.00 diamond ring, or a $75,000.00 Lexus, than it is a gift of the heart. Instead, these advertisements try to put us in an adult make-believe world where love can be purchased if one has the money – or more likely, if one is willing to go into debt for “love”. The more expensive the gift, the more love you are giving? Is that what they’re trying to tell us? It’s too bad that so many are believing this. There’s an awful lot of TV commercials with ladies receiving a whole lot of very expensive, glittering diamond necklaces or rings of “love”.

The gifts we give for Christmas have somehow become the focus of the season. And, every year it just gets worse. But, the world didn’t get the way it is in one day. I let it happen. You let it happen. We all let it happen. We all had a hand in things becoming tha they are. Maybe, finally, some of us are waking up. I just hope we haven’t let it get so far out of control that we can’t ever bring it back again. There is nothing wrong with giving gifts as long as we know which ones really matter.

They can’t take my Christmas. I know what Christmas means and it lives in my heart because the heart of a child still beats inside me. Oh no doubht the innocence has been tarnished, but it’s not gone.

America is mostly Christian country ( I hope)  and Christmas is a Christian holiday. Yet, cities which once celebrated the season with magnificent Christmas displays are now dark and mundane at Christmas. I feel sorry for the children who may never know the magic of having parents or grandparents take them to see the beautiful, animated Christmas displays in department store windows – or the live Nativity scenes with real animals and actors and actresses playing the part of Joseph and Mary and the others; or the dazzling Christmas lights which adorned every lamp post and lined buildings and city streets.

Nativity scenes, commemorate and portray the birth of Jesus. And whether you believe He was a The Savior or not, he devoted his life to the teaching of love, hope, faith, peace and goodwill. In this respect, celebrating His birth should not be offensive to anyone, not even those who are not Christian.

Why do people take offense at the words “Merry Christmas” as if some attempt at conversion to Christianity was taking place? If someone wished me “Happy Hanukkah” I would not be offended. Would you? I respect others and their right to believe as they wish – and even though I may not agree with them, I would never be offended by what they believe.

They want to take the real Christmas and turn it into a mega shopping spree from Halloween until the 25th of December. We cannot let them take Christmas. I won’t let them steal mine.

As I sit alone, in the candlelight, I make a list of gifts i would give if only I could. When I finish, I realize that nothing on my list would cost a single penny, yet if I were able to give these gifts, I would have given much.

My Christmas List

To the moms and dads and grandparents of the young men and women who serve in the armed forces and are far away from home this Christmas, I would give them the gift of their son or daughter’s safe return.

To the elderly who will be alone at Christmas, in nursing homes around the world, I would give them each an hour of my time and give them the gift of friendship.

To the sick, I would give health.

To the restless, I would give peace.

To those who hunger, I would give food.

To those who live in darkness, I would give light.

To those who are dying, I would give faith.

To the powerful I would give the gift of empathy and compassion, for then they could know the powerless.

To the wealthy I would give caring souls and hearing ears, so they could hear the cries of the starving.

To the poor I would give knowledge, opportunity, and faith so they could know hope.

But I stopped writing when I realized that all these gifts I would give had already been given. They were given over two-thousand years ago to us all by the Man whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. The eternal gift of His teachings and the billions of hearts His Words have touched are gifts to all mankind – Christian and non-Christian alike. But His greatest gift to us all was the gift of love.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things…. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians Chapter 13

The snow has stopped falling and the candle has burned down. The streets are barren, glistening with fresh snow. The innocence of a child fills my heart as I look out the window. I imagine sleighs and horses and snowball fights – and imagine the laughter of children playing in the snow. I remember Christmas the way it used to be.

My children are gown and coming home for Christmas. That is the best gift of all. I can’t think of anything more a parent could wish for. It’s time to go to sleep. I have a festive day ahead. A Christmas Day with my children. I am a lucky man indeed.

The clock is chiming. It’s Christmas day!

I know that the best gifts I can give at Christmas are the ones that money cannot buy. They are the gifts I give from my heart. Parents and grandparents should try to remember that the gifts they buy for their children and grandchildren won’t be remembered for very long after Christmas has passed – but the gifts of their time and love will always be remembered.

At Christmastime, the greatest gift we can ever give is the gift of ourselves – our time, our friendship, and our love. When we give freely and from our hearts, we honor the Man whose birthday we celebrate on Christmas Day.

No one can take our Christmas unless we let them. If we keep the true meaning of Christmas alive in our hearts, no one can ever steal it . We need to keep Christmas well, not only for ourselves, but for our Children.

Christmas is also the season of love and forgiveness. So let us forgive those who are unwittingly trying to take our Christmas away. Let’s forget those who are trying to take our Christmas away by turning it into a time for buying gifts we can’t afford and that will never last. Let’s remember that Christmas will always be what we believe it. Christmas will always be what we make it.

We can all keep Christmas in our hearts. They can’t take my Christmas, because Christmas is always alive in my heart. I hope you always keep Christmas in your heart. And believe in Christmas with the awe, and the wonder and the innocence of a child.

May the faith, hope, forgiveness, charity, compassion, and love that He taught us, live within you at Christmas, and always.

Love is the greatest gift of all.

Merry Christmas!