Growing Up With Christmas

By McDonald, T.  |  Date 17th of December 2021

Christmas as a child was the most exciting time of the year. The build up to Christmas and the anticipation of being with family and getting wonderful and exciting presents was indescribable. One of the best things about Christmas, for me, was visiting family. I would go to my uncle's and see my cousins. I would get to see my Mum, brother, Sister and Aunties. Visiting family meant dressing up and getting ready for the occasion, which only added to the fun. As a Child, Christmas was a guaranteed joyous occasion, a time of fun and celebration for all.

The build up to Christmas would start early in the year. Unlike today, children would receive gifts, main gifts; big expensive gifts, at birthdays and Christmas although we would get some smaller gifts throughout the year. Since modern children have gifts all the time, perhaps the children of today have lost the sense of excitement and lost the lesson of patients. Throughout the year, children would drop hints about gifts they would like in all sorts of inventive ways. Subsequently, parents would go without in order to provide fabulous gifts for the children and children would be told to wait and see. This idea of receiving a great gift was if they behaved was used to great effect by parents. The fact parents would use presents as a bribe goes against the spirit of Christmas and God's offer of salvation. We are not expected to be good in order to receive entrance to Heaven, neither only faith; we can't earn our way into Heaven because it is a gift to be accepted. However, that doesn't mean we don't have to do good in the world. If you have true faith in Jesus, you will naturally want to do good in the world without any expectation of reward; you do what is right rather than what benefits you. Good works without faith is meaningless. Likewise, faith without good works is pointless.

Christmas would even be recognised in schools. On the roll up to Christmas we would practice singing Christmas carols in the hall and as we got into December we would make Christmas decorations in class under the supervision of the teacher. Nativity sets would be everywhere in the school. The buzz of Christmas in the air while in the playground. Even the weather would seem to join in when it snowed, allowing us to play in the snow laughing and joking. It was great fun wrapping up in warm clothes, hats and scarfs and making makeshift toboggans to slide down hills.

One of the most exciting things about Christmas was the anticipation of what might be, which, ironically, is how many of us feel about Heaven. Heaven is the promise of Jesus if we but only accept Him as Lord and saviour!

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