Alex Lella's Blog

The True Meaning of Christmas

Now they want to know what Christmas means to me.

Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.

Sorry I couldn't resist that. Believe it or not, I think I figured out the answer to this question a few Christmases ago, while I was looking at a manger.

No really, this is going to be more then just a Christian cliche,(at least a little bit more)

Not long ago, one person wrote to an advice column complaining that she hated Christmas because, among other things, it meant seeing relatives that she hates. (The columnist didn't have much advice for her except spend the day partying with a group of atheists.)

I believe that the purpose of Christmas is to remember each other and (maybe even ourselves) "in the manger" so to speak. By that I don't necessarily mean as infants. I mean, that manger in Bethlehem was a very humble place considering everything that began there in the coming two thousand years. Some of it was good, and, yes, some of it was not so good. But on Christmas, I think it's best to go back to the begining. You've probably had a great deal of grief in the past year, and you've probably even caused some grief in the past year. The really sad part is that more grief is almost cetrtainly coming. But then more was coming for the people in that manger; Just 33 years after the first Christmas, we got the first Good Friday. But on Christmas, just put all that grief aside, look at your relationship with God, look at your relationship with the other people that you're spending Christmas with and see if you can start over.

Merry Christmas!