What Does Christmas Mean to Me?

"What Does Christmas Mean to Me?" Dom tagged me with this one after TeacherJulie tagged him. The instructions of this meme are the following:

1. Write a paragraph next to the last paragraph in the tag that is passed to you, and add a link back to your site.
   
2. You can use a title that will suit your Christmas idea.
3. Tag as many others as you can.

Christmas is an annual holiday that makes my little wishes come true. A pair of new shoes, new dress and gifts from my Godparents. That’s how I defined Christmas years and years ago until… I came to Bahrain. That’s when I realized what it really means. A special day to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Here in Bahrain, Christmas is nothing. It’s just an ordinary working day for almost everyone, unless your boss is considerate, he’ll give you at least a half day to celebrate, if there are celebrations happening. But in my case, there’s nothing to celebrate literally. Everyone is at work, that includes my husband and myself. We attend the midnight (Christmas Eve) mass and that’s it, go to sleep and get back to work the next day, on Christmas day. My first Christmas away from home happened in 1999. I came here in October and had the most loneliest Christmas ever in my life - without my family. That made me realized their importance. On how meaningless celebrations would be without them. To cut the story short, for me Christmas is all about Jesus and family. If you have friends to celebrate this special day with you, that’s a bonus! -When Silence Speaks
~o0o~
A little while ago, I talked to my daughter about this year’s Christmas being different from the other Christmases we had. She asked me why. I explained to her that my husband and I are both undergoing financial difficulties since hubby has just been doing consultancy work since March and that means no extra money for the holiday expenses, not that we give expensive, extravagant gifts, we don’t. She said something like: “It’s okay, we don’t need expensive gifts, what is important is that we are together.” Thank you, Trixie, for making this easier. (Please click on her name to see what she has written in her blog about her thoughts on this.) We have always emphasized about the real meaning of this holy day. That this is about Jesus who came to save us from sins and give us eternal life. We always make it a point to go to church during the morning of Christmas day to give thanks to the Lord. Christmas is not just a holy day, not just a time of giving gifts but a time to thank the Lord for the blessings of life. -TeacherJulie
~o0o~
Christmas is about the decision that God made to save mankind! The piercing truth is that Christmas is about so many decisions.
First: It is the decision of God to send us Jesus Christ.
Second: It is the decision of Mary to accept the will of God and cooperate in the plan of salvation.
Third: Joseph decided to take Mary as his wife despite her condition. Joseph did not understand completely and yet because the angel told him so, he decided to say 'yes', too.
Sometimes I feel that the yes of Mary overstated and the weight of Joseph's yes was underestimated.
If Joseph did not agree to the angel's leading, the 'yes' of Mary would have resulted in a condemnable pregnancy that could have led to a dead mother and baby.
Mary should have been stoned to death if Joseph decided to say no. Joseph's decision was important.
Fourth: It was also the decision of the wise Men to go another way and not collaborate with Herod who wanted to kill the Child Jesus.
Fifth: It was the decision, too, of the shepherds to go in haste and tell the others what they have seen.
~o0o~
Christmas is about choosing to love. We reflect on the birth of Christ from the point of view of faithful people who know Jesus' life story. We know what he will make of his life. We see it as prophecy fulfilled, and so it was because of the choices Jesus Christ made. Born into a troubled world in which the Jewish people suffered at the hands of Rome's domination system, Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is inside each person. He taught this as a lesson for all people everywhere: that lovingkindness and compassion are the gifts of a warm heart; each of us must choose to nurture these gifts and to give them away. Then we transform the world. Jesus chose to do what he was called to do, and it did it to his last breath and beyond.

The other day I tried to photograph the figures of my inexpensive bisque nativity. The pictures that resulted were mediocre photos, but the exercise because an act of devotion and discovery for me. Looking through my camera and studying each figure carefully, I saw the obvious: that only the arms of the new baby are open. All others' are closed in humility and worship. Here is the Christ child reaching for the whole world; here is the whole world focused on his gift, needing it so desperately.

Christmas is about choosing love with open arms. Writing in Faith: Thoughts
~oOo~

I'm tagging Ed, Hopeful Spirit, and Colloquium with this one.