We had shopped in several stores and in not one of them did I hear the phrase "Merry Christmas" and there is not much happiness on the faces of those who served us as they mumbled "Seasons Greetings" or "Happy Holidays"
I began to wonder to myself, "Where did Christmas go?"
That wonderful, magical time of year I remember as a child.
Yes we lived way up in the country, and it would take a couple of hours to get to either of the two nearest cities to us. That is if anyone was going so that a parent could catch a ride. It seemed the world was a much larger place than it is today, when one can get to England in the time it would have taken us to walk out to the "Front Road" and back.
But still Christmas was wonderful and everything just seemed to glow from the joy of it. The snow would seem to shimmer in the moonlight and the reds were so red and the greens so green. People who really didn't like each other would put their differences aside to celebrate the birth of The Prince of Peace.
The whole world around us just seemed to want to shout
"MERRY CHRISTMAS"
Decorations were simple, usually most of them homemade. Presents were few, but that didn't matter, and our Christmas trees were usually right out of a Charlie Brown comic strip, but to us they were beautiful beyond description. I so loved those striped glass ornaments and the little houses that mum bought from the mail order catalogue. And, oh, the wonder when we got our first set of lights, I guess it was a string of about eight. But it was so beautiful there might as well have been thousands.
It was Christmas and the world came alive. Yes we believed in Santa, but we also were taught and knew so well the true meaning of the season.
When did it all change? Was it the year I saw my Mum in tears because the newspaper articles began to print Xmas instead of Christmas?
I don't know, but the season has lost it's true meaning, and in fact unrecognizable from my childhood days.
Christmas has become a season, a holiday, a time to spend money and enrich business who will not even allow their employees to wish you a
"Merry Christmas"
Oh Mum I agree with you, and I also sometimes shed a tear because I miss that Christ in Christmas, to me He's not just X, He's the reason for the season.
Our children need to know Him and the world would be such a better place if we opened our doors and our hearts to him.
Forget political Correctness. While so many would like to change it and make it otherwise, to many of us it is Christmas. It's meaning far outweighs legislation, and the opinions of some, who like those in the Little Town of Bethlehem so long ago, find no room for Him.
I want to put Christ back in Christmas. He brings the warmth and wonder that is so needed in this world today. I want to celebrate that night in Bethlehem when the angels sang and the shepherds came. Oh what a magnificent night that must have been.
The Wise Men back then had the good sense to know that this was an occasion worth searching out. This was going to make a difference to the world. How wonderful it would be for the people who call themselves wise in our day, our leaders, would also realize that men who are really wise still seek Him.
Merry Christmas everyone and May God richly bless you in the coming year.
~Written by Marion H~
