This is the talk I wrote for our Christmas program at church. I really enjoyed preparing a talk about Christmas because it helped me feel the Spirit of Christmas more than I have all season.
My favorite parts of Christmas have always been the traditions that surround the season, not so much Christmas morning and the presents. I love that Christmas can still be centered on the Savior, and that all the love, kindess, patience, and peace of the season, reminds us of Him.
"Some of my happiest and most vivid Christmas memories come from when I was little and my family would act out the Nativity story together. When I was about 4 years old I solidified my role as the Angel of the Lord because I was such an enthusiastic actress in that role. To this day, though we don’t perform the Nativity together anymore, my favorite part of the story is the first of the angel’s words: “Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people…” (Luke 2:10-12)
Christmas is and should be a time of joy and good tidings; of remembering that very reason we have it to celebrate. Those good tidings of great joy that the angel brought were tidings of a Savior who would redeem all mankind…who would be not only the Savior of the world, but the personal Redeemer for each one of us.
In the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional this year, Pres. Uchtdorf stated:
"We know what the Christmas season ought to be—we know it should be a time of reflection on the birth of the Savior, a time of celebration and of generosity. But sometimes our focus is so much on the things that annoy and overwhelm us that we can almost hear ourselves say in unison with the Grinch: “Why, for fifty-three years I’ve put up with it now! I MUST stop this Christmas from coming! . . . But HOW?”
While it’s true that we can find materialism and anxiety in Christmas, it is also true that if we have eyes to see, we can experience the powerful message of the birth of the Son of God and feel the hope and peace He brings to the world. We, like the Grinch, can see Christmas through new eyes."
As a teacher, I can hardly hide from Christmas’s hustle and bustle, commercialism, stress, and secular aspects—Santa Claus and wish lists are often the topic of discussion from Halloween to Christmas break with 7 year olds—but I also get to see the magic of Christmas through the eyes of children.
Sometimes I am surprised, and often impressed, by my students’ sensitivity to the importance of all things Christmas. Of course there are the toys and parties, but over the years my students have taught me a lot about really making the Savior an important part of this season.
The other day I was listening to my students as they worked on a Christmas art project. I heard one of them talking about how excited she was to have Santa Claus come and bring presents. She started talking about all the things she wanted and all the things she was sure she would get. (I was shocked as I always am when the kids start gasping over iPads and cell phones and things I can hardly afford…). This little girl started squealing about all the things she loved about Christmas including Santa Claus, the North Pole, elves, reindeer, and stockings. I almost stopped listening to focus on something else, brushing the conversation off as “just kids getting excited about Santa,” but I listened a moment longer. The little boy sitting next to her looked up, raised one eyebrow, and stated, “Don’t you know that Christmas is actually when we celebrate Jesus? It’s His birthday anyway. Christmas is for Jesus, not Santa.”
I was sufficiently humbled. I think the little girl was too.
Christmas is, as my student said, “for Jesus,” and for joyful rejoicing in the gift of the Savior’s Atonement that was made possible by His birth and His death. In Pres. Eyring’s Christmas talk he stated:
This little child, born in a stable and cradled in a manger, was a gift from our loving Heavenly Father. He was the promised Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the Son of the living God. He was with His Father before He came to earth in mortality, the Creator of the earth upon which we stand.
Above all, the Savior whose birth we remember this season of the year paid the price of all of our sins. Again the prophet Isaiah, long before our Lord’s birth, saw the gift beyond price of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
He gave us this description of what the Savior did for us:
“Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”
Those who have felt that peace and healing have their hearts filled with gratitude. And so do those who love them.
That is the spirit of Christmas, which puts in our hearts a desire to give joy to other people. We feel a spirit of giving and gratitude for what we have been given. The celebration of Christmas helps us keep our promise to always remember Him and His gifts to us. And that remembrance creates a desire in us to give gifts to Him."
Our Savior, Jesus Christ, “wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,” was born that first Christmas day to enter this world as our only way back to our Heavenly Father. He was born to show us how to love, how to teach, how to live, and how to give. But above all, He was born to pay the price of our sins that we might someday be like Him.
Christmas is a time of joy and good tidings. The Angel of the Lord brought good tidings of great joy for all people. The gift of a Savior spans all generations, all dispensations, all continents, and can reach all hearts. In remembering that joy and those good tidiings we can remember the true meaning of Christmas. In remembering what Christmas is really about, we are able to see Christmas through spiritual eyes, new eyes that help us remember and believe in the sacredness of this season.
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He was the Child who unto us was born, who unto us was given. He is my Wonderful Counselor, my Everlasting Father, my Prince of Peace, and my Savior."
(Picture credit: google images, Greg Olsen art)
