Guest Post: What Christmas Means to Me by Steven T. Warren

Yes, the correct answer has to do with Jesus’ birth and what that means to us.

(c) Tim Scott - Fotolia.com

However, I want to focus on the celebration aspect for just a minute. I grew up in a family without the means to heap presents around the Christmas tree. My memories are not of ripping open package after package, then by mid morning, forgetting about the presents I first opened. Yes, I’m sure at the time the ripping of paper was exciting, but those memories didn’t last much beyond the mess. I usually had one present that was “the present” that was of any monetary value, and I don’t mean big money. My memories of Christmas past are of the atmosphere created by my family, mostly my Mom.

The look of our house changed with decorations, a live tree and things baking: creating the “smell” of Christmas. Much was made of decorating the tree in that many of the ornaments were handmade. I remember my picture on a canning jar lid, shellacked and trimmed with yarn, probably made at school. I wonder what happened to that ornament? I remember stringing popcorn at least once. We made an attempt to sing Christmas carols around an old upright piano that no one really learned to play. We lit candles to set the mood. (Maybe we were saving electricity, if so I didn’t know. We had the live tree because an artificial tree was for rich people).

These are fond memories.

The easy way to do Christmas is to buy a several presents and keep the kids from opening them until the moment the cameras are ready. The pictures are captured for “facebook” to prove it happened. Soon the garbage truck comes and picks up the mess and the toys (or what’s left of them) are put in the overflowing toy area.

I have been to both Christmas celebrations. It takes effort to make memories, not a lot of money. I hope this Christmas you will focus on making memories you and your kids can reflect back on many years later and remember “the feeling of Christmas.”

~Steve (or Dad or Papaw)