Guest Blog from one of our fans - Brooklynnluv73 

When referring to the Christmas Spirit, the responses you will get are as unique as the individual to whom you are speaking.  To some, the Christmas spirit is all about the spirit of giving.  To others, the Christmas spirit has everything to do with children.  To yet others, the Christmas spirit is all about gatherings of family and friends.  Although all of these are important; to me the Christmas spirit is solely based on my faith – becoming Christlike, not just during the holiday season, but all year long.

Gift-giving is wonderful, and symbolic of the gifts presented to Jesus in the manger, but I feel this world has become so focused on gift-giving, the message has been completely diluted.  The gift-giving process has become so commercialized and lost its true meaning.  Gifts no longer come from a spirit of giving, but instead are, most often, given out of obligation, with no meaning or compassion behind the gift itself.

Children are a very special part of Christmas.  Seeing their faces light up when they open the gifts they’ve been requesting for months is truly priceless.  However, I feel lessons to children about the spirit of giving have been abandoned.  For the most part, children in today’s society are more concerned with what you are going to give them than learning how to be a giver.  It all ties back to the commercialization of Christmas and a society that has abandoned its traditional roots for a what-can-the-world-do-for-me attitude.

Family and friends are important to our lives.  The human race is a relational race.  Without relationship with each other, we cannot function.  Other people are important to our well being.  That being said, family get-togethers these days seem to be filled more with drama than love.  Sad as it may be, this would explain why most only gather with their families two or three times each year. 

I celebrate Christmas because my faith recognizes this day as the day my savior, Jesus Christ, was born into this world.  My goal as a Christian is to live my life every day growing more and more like Christ.  Although I fail daily, I still strive.  Christmas reminds me of my failures, and His sacrifice.  Living my life to become more like Christ is what the Christmas spirit means to me.  If you know anything about the Christian faith, you probably know that Jesus was compassionate, loving, patient, kind, sinless, full of faith, and lived His entire life completely as a sacrifice so that the world would come to know God.  Growing in those qualities and becoming more like Christ is what the Christmas spirit is all about to me.

Your upbringing, environment, circumstances, experiences, and several other factors all contribute to your current belief system, which is the basis for your values, and thus your basis behind the meaning of Christmas spirit.  Whatever your belief system, I would encourage you to adapt and embrace your own sense of the Christmas spirit.  I challenge you to use it to spread cheer and good tidings, make the world a better place.

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