Christmas at the Casebeer's
This time
of year, I almost always feel a sense of urgency to pen a Christmas letter that
captures like never before the essence of the season. The written word
has been around a long time. The likelihood of mixing and matching words sufficiently
as to arrive at something entirely new, innovative, and never before achieved in
the long, celebrated history of the medium, is about as likely as discovering
the one true Santa emerging from your hearth on Christmas morning. For most of us, our most enchanting Christmas memories are from our youth. To fully
experience the magic and majesty of Christmas, it’s almost essential to
approach it with a childlike faith. The older we get, the more difficult
that becomes. In order to recapture the true essence of Christmas, one
must do it with a minimum of words, from the purest and most youthful depths of
our heart. That’s my hope for each and every one of us this season, that
the spirit of Christmas can purify, cleanse and relieve us of our years of
apprehension, disillusionment and animosity, and allow us once more to experience
the magical Christmas of our earliest memories; pure, simple and unadulterated;
a Christmas awash in the warmth, joy and unconditional fellowship that comes of
an innocent heart and a childlike faith. Dear God, help us once more to
approach, Christ, Christmas and each other, with open arms, forgiving hearts,
and the incorruptible innocence of our youth. In this age of cynicism, apathy
and doubt, we hear many disparaging comments about Christmas. People despair over its commercialism,
the financial strain it tends to create for some, and the anxiety and
depression it causes in others. We’re told of its origins in pagan tradition
and how Christmas trees and Christmas gifts and all the traditional trappings
of Christmas were swiped from various archaic cultures down through the ages.
We’re told by wise and learned experts that it can be conclusively determined
that Christ wasn’t even born in December. What are we to think? I’ll tell you what I think. I think that for myself and many
others, our memories of Christmas past and our hopes for Christmas future may
well be the very essence of what makes our lives worth living. For us, the
spirit of Christmas and everything that the true meaning of Christmas embodies
is a fundamental element in our faith, our happiness, our very existence, and
everything we treasure in our lives. It’s our memories of Christmas past that
strengthen our resolve to keep Christmas vital and alive, and see to it that
children for generations to come can experience the joy we knew on those
cherished mornings long ago, when we gathered together with precious souls we
miss with all our hearts, and shared the precious, incomparable gift of
Christmas. SC
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