“It’s Christmas Day! I Haven’t Missed It.”

Merry Christmas!

It is easy to get lost and miss Christmas altogether.

Christmas is not about trees and tinsel, garland or getting what you want. It is not about wrapping paper, ribbon, shopping, and gift cards. It is not about mangers, shepherds, and angels.

Christmas is not about traditions or the tastes of special foods, caroling or movie openings. It is not about traveling or spending time with relatives. It is not about white or blue, the weather, or watching a fire.

Christmas is not about the aroma of baking cookies, or greeting cards, or time away from work or school. It is not about Bedford Falls, or Ralphie, or 34th Street. It is not about sales figures, or lumps of coal, or being naughty or nice.

Christmas is not about going to church, or advertising, or reindeer and elves. It is not about the Grinch, Frosty, a little drummer boy, or the Ghost of Christmas Past. It is not even about giving or helping people who are less fortunate than you are.

These things are not wrong in themselves, but none of them is the core of Christmas. Christmas transcends all that.

Christmas is deeper, more valuable, and more essential.

Christmas is the Sacred being born in the everyday.

Christmas is when we stop to remember and reflect. It is when we see the Divine inside a baby, even a homeless baby born in a shed. It is when we see how the Sacred is born and grows within us.

Christmas is when we take the time to recognize and appreciate the sacred and divine in each other.

Christmas opens our eyes to the truth in ourselves and all around us.

Are you missing Christmas? There is still time.

[Image by Pink Sherbet Photography]