Where is Jesus among all of this?.

             The time before Christmas is a very busy time, especially because everyone wants to buy gifts for each other. This is a rather new idea when we look at history, to give each other presents at Christmas. The question is if the gifts are taking over and dominating the whole celebration? The only thing children of today associate with Christmas is all the gifts. Many years ago, children associated Christmas with going to church, having a good meal when coming home, maybe getting a new knitted sweater, and sitting by the Christmas tree listening to their father reading the story of Christmas. .

             The situation today is completely different. It seems like the presents are more important than the actual reason for celebrating Christmas. Just try to imagine how calm the Christmas preparations and celebration would be if there was no exchanging of gifts. Then the stores would have lost a large part of their business. With Christmas being as commercialized as it has, with the "pressure" to buy at least one gift to give to each person, the whole months of November and December are a great celebration for the shopkeepers. There is no other time of the year when they make that much money. So even if it looks like the stores want us to get the right Christmas feeling by showing angels, red hearts, Christmas trees, Santas, and gifts all over, the only reason is to try to celebrate their own Christmas by encouraging people buy as many gifts as possible.

             People often say, when talking about Christmas, that it is no longer a religious celebration. You will often hear, "But just look at the churches at Christmas Eve! Never are the churches more crowded with people than at Christmas Eve." I agree to that statement to a certain point. It's nothing to say against churches that are filled with people, but the point is that most people don't go to church on Christmas Eve because they want to celebrate Christmas for the reasons that the holiday symbolizes.