As I look around at all the vehicles, red lights at a stop, waiting to turn into the parking lot of the mall, whose parking lot is packed by the way. I can’t help but wonder … where is Christmas?

The word has all but vanished from our vocabulary, as people and signed say Happy holidays. Worse yet, I had a hard time finding true Christmas Cards. Meaning, the ones that actually expressed the true meaning of the season, which is the birth of a baby names Jesus. I did finally find some with the Manger, baby Jesus, Mary and the Three Wise Men, but it took 3 stores to find them.  I guess all the corporate buyers for Target and Walmart have been told, don’t buy anything religious!

This totally baffles me, because I don’t think many people would argue the point that the celebration is about a baby born in a manger.  Now of course there are those who are not of Christian belief and thus they might not believe the rest of the story: that this baby Jesus was born of a Virgin and he was the Messiah, Son of God, who would be crucified on a cross and resuraected on Easter Sunday. None the less, how many people you ask would deny that Christmas was started as the celebration of Jesus’s birth? (before you bloggers start posting- YES I am aware that there are those who will say Chrismtas is a pagan holiday that was actually the celebration of the winter solstice, further I also am aware that there are those who proclaim that history suggests that Jesus actually was not born in Decemeber).

I get all of this. But I still ask the question. How many would tell you that yes they believe it is the celebration of a birth.

SO here is where I think we have lost sight of Christmas. It’s the Birthday of Jesus. We should be gifting him shouldn’t we? Don’t you bring gifts to a birthday celebration? Yet, we see a society that is in perpetual “buy” mode for everyone else, buy, buy, buy. Everyone is busy making a list, not just of what to buy others, but sadly, a list of what they want. SO there is the “I need list” being created.

I just wonder to myself silently.. Where is the gift I am to give to Jesus. What gift do I have for him this year? After all is it Jesus’s birthday.

Buying presents lost its luster for me 3 years ago. For several reasons, lest of those being that my family and friends really didn’t need anything number one (I mean really NEED). Secondly, it was just on my heart that Christmas Day is about the birth of Jesus. Which for me personally carries very significant meaning. You see for me and my beliefs, this means that the Savior was with us.

Somehow, buying gifts and wrapping them with bows, just really lost its luster for me, as a matter of fact it has all but repulsed me to some extent.

SO what shall I give Jesus.  My thanksgiving, my eternal thanks and gratitude for all He has done for me, for all that I know He will continue to do. I will read His words and fill my heart with all the things that I know He wishes for. PEACE HOPE AND LOVE.  I know He wants us to be peaceful, get along, love one another, love your neighbor, love your enemy, have faith, fear not, give to others in need, help the widow the orphan the child and the sick, visit those who are in prison, leave no one out, reach out to those around you, be not selfish, think of others, do not envy or be prideful, do not lust or have greed. I hope I am able to give these things from my heart to Jesus as I celebrate His birth.

I love what he has done in my heart, how he has transformed my thinking and gotten me out of myself long enough to see the true meaning of the season.  Christmas celebrates the day that I was given a second chance, its signifies the  moment in history where my redemption and forgiveness first started, the day Jesus was born.