Reflecting On My Most Meaningful Christmas

When I reflect back on my life, many occasions stand out as special events. Several of them are: My wedding day; the day I joined a Gospel quartet as a teenager; each day of the birth of our five kids; the day I dropped dad’s prized notebook into the San Diego Harbor; the day dad returned from a 13-month deployment; the first time I preached over the radio; and the day, when playing hide-n-seek, I backed into a cactus plant. (I won’t tell you how badly that hurt!)

When I consider my most meaningful Christmas Day before marriage, I have to pause and go through my life — location-by-location. In the 20 years between my birth and marriage, we lived in 10 different places, and my childhood memories are in those 10 mental compartments. As an adult married for 54 years — so far — we lived in 17 different locations — so far.

Reflecting on my childhood, dad sometimes took us on Saturday- afternoon family walks through El

Cajon, Calif. We walked past Foster’s Freeze ice cream store, and each of us got an ice cream cone. They cost a nickel back then. We walked to the other end of town, stopping at the 5-, 10and 15-cent store for a coke. They cost a dime. We then crossed the highway and walked back home, stopping first by the Ford dealership to look at new cars. Looking didn’t cost anything. As children, we thought it must have been a five-mile walk. But the walks were probably around two miles at the most, and were deeply enjoyable times with mom and dad.

Whenever I got into a fuss with any of my five sisters, I always went to dad for consolation. He didn’t arbitrarily take my side in the fuss, but he helped me understand life. I felt important when I was with my dad.

But then, the Navy sent dad overseas for 13 months, and I felt all alone. I plodded along, but life was hollow for me. I hate to admit it, but I cried often. Not realizing it, I became belligerent at times to mom. It wasn’t intentional, but I was a kid, and hurting. That doesn’t excuse me, and I eventually asked both mom and the Lord to forgive me.

But Joy still comes in the morning. (That’s the first line in the chorus of the song, “Alive & Breathing” by Matt Maher.)

DAD RETURNED HOME! And I became happy again. That next Christmas was my most memorable childhood Christmas.

Dad helped pick out the tree. Dad brought out the special gifts he had purchased for us overseas, but had concealed them in his closet. We never suspected he had them. Dad spent the whole day with us. Dad, my brothers, and I tossed the football. We played catch with a baseball. Dad had target-practice with me with my new Daisy B-B Gun. Many of us played Monopoly. Dad won. We had root-beer floats. All in all, I was in heaven-on-earth! Life wasn’t perfect, but my daddy was home! And that was my most memorable Christmas as a child.

What about you? Think back in time. (My memory is my Time Travel Machine.) Relax and take time to reflect on your life. What events or relationship made Christmas meaningful to you, and when was that? It can be either when you were a child or an adult.

I would enjoy hearing about your Memorable Christmas experiences.

Therefore, please feel free to jot down some notes and email them to me. (Find my email address below.)

God commissioned people to jot down notes to give us. Those notes are the Bible. Leaving heaven, He came to be born as a human, like me. But unlike me, Jesus was never selfish. As a human, He didn’t search for fulfillment to make His life worthwhile. Instead, He came to give Himself in order to make OUR lives worthwhile. He gave His life on the cross to re-establish eternal life for us. In His 33 years on earth prior to His crucifixion, He showed us how to live, how to love, and how to give.

I encourage you this Christmas season to think less of stuff, more of others, and especially, more of Jesus. He wasn’t born in December, but this celebration is still all about Him. Stuff will wear out, but your relationship with Jesus Christ, our Savior, will last forever.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.