Christmas Welcome
Christmas is the most mysterious holiday! Christians
celebrate it all over the world. It is too special
holiday as all the traditions were handled down
from our grandparents and parents.
From November nobody forgets that Christmas is
coming. Colored lights decorate many town centers
and shops and artificial snow painted on shop, cafe
windows. In streets and shops, 'Christmas trees',
real or plastic evergreen 'conifer' trees, are also
decorated with lights and Christmas ornaments.
Shopping centers become busier. Speaker systems
in them play Christmas 'carols', the traditional
Christmas Christian songs. Very often groups of
people sing these carols raising money for charity.
By mid-December, most people decorate their houses
with Christmas trees, colored lights, make different
decorations around the rooms. Some people decorate
their trees with apples, nuts, and candles as it
was in earlier times.
In many countries, most people send Christmas greeting
cards with many wishes to their friends and family,
and these cards are hung on the walls of their homes
then. Traditional Christmas cards showed religious
pictures - Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, or other
parts of the Christmas story. Today pictures are
often winter pictures, jokes, Father Christmas,
or romantic scenes of life in past times.
'Father Christmas' (or 'Santa Claus') has become
the human face of Christmas. In the pictures we
can see the old man with long white beard, red coat,
and bag of toys. Children are taught that he brings
them presents the night before Christmas (or in
some countries on December 6th - St. Nicholas' Day),
and many children up to the age of 7 or 8 really
believe this is true. The history of Santa Clause
begins with a man called Saint Nicholas. He was
a Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor (now Turkey) in the
4th century AD. He was very shy, and wanted to give
money to poor people without them knowing about
it. One day he climbed the roof of a house and dropped
a purse of money down the chimney. It landed in
the stocking, which a girl had put to dry by the
fire! This may explain the belief that Father Christmas
comes down the chimney and places gifts in children's
stockings.
For many people it's too interesting to know: how
did Christmas start? Since about 400 AD Christians
have celebrated the birth of Jesus. 'Christ' means
'Messiah', the title given to Jesus. Unfortunately
the real meaning of Christmas is often forgotten.
It has become a non-religious holiday! More children
believe in Father Christmas, not in Jesus. Christmas
Day is a holiday with eating, drinking too much
and watching TV and other activities.
But the real Christmas story is found in the Christian
Bible. After Jesus was born there were some wise
men who came to look for Him, from an area which
is now in either Iran or Saudi Arabia. Admittedly
there were three wise men (or three Kings). The
story said they had seen an unusual star in the
sky that told them of a birth of a special king.
For bringing honor to the child, the brought rich
gifts: gold, frankincense (a resin which burns with
a beautiful smell) and myrrh (plant oil with a very
strong sweet smell). These gifts tell us three key
things about Jesus: Gold - a gift fit for a King,
Frankincense - burnt in worship of God, Myrrh -
a sign of mortal humanness, used to bury the dead.
Jesus lived too difficult life. He was and is 'everyman'
for us all as He came to identify with every racial
group.
Christmas cards from different countries often
show Mary, Joseph and Jesus in the landscape of
that country, and with the racial appearance of
that nationality. "No other person has had
such an effect on human lives as Jesus. He came
back to life again, and millions say they know Him
today as a friend and helper in their lives. You
owe it to yourself to find out more about Him. Is
He who He claimed to be? Can He help us in our lives
today? You have nothing to lose! Christmas is the
time to stop and think about these important questions".
Merry Christmas!!!
