December 11, 2010

The Meaning of What?

I recently read one of my favorite blogs! And it got me thinking what do you think about when you hear "Christmas", what goes with it? Some people acknowledge it as the birth of the Christian savior Jesus Christ. And if I remember, it has certainly been a while, right on that night three wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Then again Christmas wasn't an official holiday in america until the early 1800s, and the europians celebrated it long before but not for Jesus. Instead they celebrated the end of "darkness" and the beginning of a new year. AND before them the romans celebrated Saturnalia, their god of agriculture.

For me personally, yes I think its the gifts. And not in that horrible commercialized way but more of the "I really care about you and I want to give you something to represent that". My icon for this day is Saint Nicholas, not the fat red guy. That man in the picture. He was a wealthy man but instead of hoarding it like so many do he gave it away to the less fortunate. And after he died many people honored his memory by giving gifts to others. That to me is something worth celebrating. When people help other people.

I'm not blogging today to say your view of Christmas is wrong if its different than mine. I am just curious about what others think of this holiday!

3 comments:

  1. I say that there are multiple Christmases...as least two.

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  2. I think I agree with you. I love Christmas gifts but I enjoy the "giving" aspect more than the receiving.

    I pay a lot of mind to Christmas' history (the commercialism really irks me at times)but to me today it means family, love and togetherness. If I never received gifts I wouldn't care. My family still gives material gifts but we have started buying each other goats and other charity donations to help those less fortunate in the world. I like that a lot.

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