Favorite Christmas Memories

What Are Your Best Christmas Memories?

? Growing up my family had one of those artificial silver Christmas trees that came a with spotlight that had a red, green, and blue rotating disk that would change the color of the tree. My wife Jan told me she knew others with a silver tree and she thought they were really cool, but all she had was a traditional Christmas tree—probably cut down on her parent’s farm.

One of my best Christmas memories was the presents.?For my brother and me it was not necessarily the ones we got on Christmas morning. We grew up in a Post WWII home built for a growing suburban population. Often these homes were story and a half – small kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom with an upstairs typically unfinished. My father was a Korean war veteran and so when we bought the house about 10 years after it was built, the previous owners had finished a third bedroom upstairs with a large closet. And, that was the closet my mother used to hide the presents—or at least she thought she hid the presents there.?My brother and I would find the “hidden” presents and get them out of the boxes and play with them every night when our parents thought we were upstairs sleeping.?Because we were a blue-collar working family often the best presents purchased were ones my brother and I had to share.?But one particular year my mom purchased two toy tow trucks.?My brother and I got them out of the boxes and played with them for weeks before my mother discovered them opened in the closet.

About this same time as we were playing with our toys early A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered in 1965.?I am sure many of you have seen it.?Charlie Brown is the director of the Christmas play—appointed by Sally, of course.?And, you know the story: Charlie Brown sees a rather homely Christmas tree that he purchases for the play and Lucy and the other kids all make fun of it.

Charlie Brown says to Linus, “…everything I do turns into a disaster, I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”

?And his insecure, blanket hugging best friend says, “Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”

? Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.?And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.?And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

? “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown!”

? We give presents to celebrate what Christmas was all about – the birth of Jesus – the Savior of the world and the greatest present ever!

We honor him again on Good Friday when he died for our sins, but most importantly we celebrate him on Easter—not because it is a good day for a big meal, but because by rising he conquered death for all of us who will confess him as Lord.?

The Bible says in Romans 10:9, “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.?