My Christmas Memories (Part 1)

What a special time of the year it is as we are now in the Christmas season! I am grateful to God the Father for the giving of His only Son, Jesus the Christ, as THE sacrifice for our sins. He is truly The Reason For The Season.

I didn't grow up serving Jesus like I do today (and have since 1978), but I do have some warm memories of Christmas as a child I want to share. We knew who Jesus was, and we understood that He was the the meaning of, and the reason for Christmas.

As a child I loved Christmas. I loved getting through Thanksgiving because I knew  the day after Thanksgiving, in our little town, the Christmas lights would begin to go up over the streets. There was no Black Friday then. Only Christmas Lights Friday! I loved that time when folks began to decorate Christmas trees (and their homes) for Christmas. To me this meant that in just a few short weeks, I would get my Christmas gifts! It meant that soon, on Christmas Eve, our family would gather with my Grandparents to exchange gifts. We would enjoy some special Christmas baking that evening and some of us (not me) would even partake of Eggnog!

As things were beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Christmas Day was in plain sight! Christmas day was when we kids got all the "Big Stuff"! As a child, Christmas meant Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, Christmas Eve gifts, and a big Christmas deposit of toys appearing in our living room on the morning of December 25th.

Almost every night of the Christmas season my Grandmother would offer to take us kids riding to see the Christmas lights. I volunteered to go every time. We would ride through the little town of Bay Springs, and out in the country, and some evenings even to Laurel, a nearby town that was much larger, to view the Christmas lights. It never got old to me!

Right after Thanksgiving, city workers would begin to stream up lights in a zigzag pattern over the streets of the downtown area. (Very similar to the photo above.) These lights were wrapped in silver tinsel and glittered in the sunlight during the day. The evenings were most special to me. You could see the multicolored lights glowing brightly as we passed under them. When they were putting up the lights, it was usually after dark. I was always there, watching intensely! I was too little to help but would have, had they asked me!

Another very special memory was the "outside" Christmas tree. Grandmother would always buy us a live tree for outside in the yard. We would dig a hole and secure it in the ground. Then we would put some of those large, rippled lights on it. Currently everyone thinks they are cool because they are "vintage" now! I would spend a lot of time after dark sitting on the ground by the tree! Well.....it was fun to me! All this (and more later) was leading to to 2 big events: Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day! Truly for me, it WAS the most wonderful time of the year.

Now that I have known Jesus as my Savior for some 43 years, Christmas means so much more to me. The gift of God's only Son is the greatest gift I have ever received and ever will receive. The Christmas season is ALL about Jesus. It's very easy to know Him if you don't know Him. The Scripture says, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord (Jesus) will be saved." (Romans 10:13) He truly is the greatest of all gifts. He truly is the "indescribable gift"! I pray that you have received Him! (More memories on the way!)