The Truth about Christmas...

I must have been eight or nine years old. It was Christmas 1967 or ‘68. I was the youngest in my family by 6 years, so naturally when my recently married sister and her husband came home for their first Christmas as husband and wife, I had to give up my room. Being at the bottom of the pecking order meant you were the first one to sleep on the couch when relatives arrived.

My mom got out some sheets, blankets, and a pillow to make me a bed on the living room sofa. The silver aluminum Christmas tree was right across from me, turning red, green, and blue from the tri-colored light wheel shining upon it. You remember those, don’t you?

I laid awake watching the tree glisten and listening to the conversations coming from the nearby family room. Then at some point my father, in his deep, rich voice that I so miss hearing these days said, "Well, it’s Christmas Eve, we’d better be getting to bed if we’re going to get up early in the morning." Someone slipped into the living room and turned off the tree light. Everyone went upstairs to the bedrooms and I found myself laying in the dark stillness of our living room.  

I suddenly came to the realization that I was in the perfect place and time to discover truth that children had wondered about in the depths of their minds for generations: the truth about Santa Claus. The way I figured, if there truly was a Santa, he’d have to reveal himself to me that night as I carefully lay watching our Christmas tree. I was going to stay awake all night if I had to and find out once and for all the truth about Christmas...

I think is it’s safe to assume that Christmas is the most widely celebrated holiday, at least in our country. Both the religious and secular world have Christmas celebrations. Back in my working days, planning for yearly vacation time started with the Christmas season. There are Christmas lights, Christmas parades, Christmas parties, Christmas sales, the day after Christmas sales...the list is virtually endless, I suppose. This worldly emphasis on the yule season makes it quite easy to lose our focus on the real truth about Christmas.

 Back in 1965, Peanuts creator Charles Shultz had to fight network executives for the scene where Linus, under a spotlight, quotes the second chapter of Luke, verses 8 through 14:

^"8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.'"

"...And that's what Christmas is all about,  Charlie Brown."

It's a good thing that the show has become such a holiday tradition, because political correctness would never allow Linus to air his speech today, I’m afraid. But Linus was right. Christmas is about shepherds and angels. And Christmas is about a young couple, faithfully carrying out what God had instructed them to do, despite what the world around them must have thought. It was the single most important birth in history, God setting into action the perfect plan for the world which He so loved...

Christmas is about remembering. Remembering the sound of your father’s voice as a small child laying in wait of Santa. Remembering waking up the next morning, having fallen asleep and still not sure about Santa Claus. But mostly, Christmas is about remembering that God came to earth in the form of a babe in a manger, with a tiny, precious heart beating the blood that would someday stain a Roman cross, providing us with the most magnificent of gifts...our salvation.

As Bro. Linus would say, glory to God in the highest!