What is Christmas?
What is Christmas? This may seem like a stupid question to most people, because we all
know what Christmas is. It’s a time to give presents (whether we can afford them or not) to our
friends; it’s a time to have parties for the sake of Christmas; it’s a time to eat so much turkey that
we have indigestion for six hours afterwards; it’s a time to run around like mad fools seeing who
has spent the most to decorate their house and their Christmas tree, right?
Right – as far as a lot of people now-a-days are concerned. Just watch them as they push
their way through the crowds in the streets and in the stores. Just watch their frowns as they have
to stand on the crowded bus with their arms overloaded with packages that won’t be paid for, for
six months or more. This is the Christmas spirit as we know it.
But just a second, where did this fat old man in the red suit come from? What has he to do
with Christmas? We see one in every mall or department store, so he must have something to do
with Christmas ‘cause he disappears on the 25th of December – until next year.
What, you don’t believe in Santa Claus? Everybody believes in Santa Claus, or they should.
No, I’m not saying to believe in what the man with the fake whiskers is, I’m saying ‘Believe in the
spirit of Santa’. “But how can I believe in something I can’t see or touch?” you may well ask. Very
simple, with the faith of a child!
Children believe in Santa Claus through the love of their parent(s). We all know now that
it was our parent(s) that signed the card that said “From Santa Claus” and it was our parent(s) that
ate the cookies and drank the milk we left out for Santa. And it is through this same faith that we
should still believe in the ‘spirit’ of Santa Claus. But what do I mean by the ‘spirit’ of Santa Claus?
I mean the spirit of love and trust and understanding and caring and giving that we should be
showing all year long, not just for a few days at the end of the year – because it’s “Christmas”.
This is what Santa Claus is all about – the joy of giving, not of what you can’t afford, but, of
yourself.
But is this the true meaning of Christmas? Only partially! The true meaning of Christmas
is the giving of yourself, and your life if necessary, for another. Christmas is the celebration of a
birth of a Child that would, in time, give His life because of His love for others – those others
being us, as undeserving as we are.
“C’mon, don’t give me that hogwash. You say a Child lived and died for us?” Yes! “But
how can I know this?” Simple, with the faith of a child, the same faith you had when you believed
in Santa Claus.
You still don’t follow – O.K. – try this. You can’t see the air but you know it’s there when
you see a tree bend in the wind. You couldn’t see Santa Claus but you knew he was there when
you saw the happiness in your parents over your joy in a new toy. You can’t see love but you
know it’s there by some unexplainable feeling within. You can’t see God but you know He’s there
through the faith of a child, and through the love that pushes to the fore at this time of year,
though many of us try to ignore it and suppress it.
This is what Christmas is. It’s a time to slow down and realize that over 2000 years ago
a Baby was born to die so that we could live, so that we could live in health and happiness and in
caring for one another, as Jesus did for us.
Martin Hogarth
1979
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