Christmas is What You Make of It

On Facebook, my Mom liked and shared this photo. I thought I'd "share" it, too.

Those words look pretty small. I'd better type them up.

Christmas is what we make of it. Despite all the distractions, we can see to it that Christ is at the center of our celebration. If we have not already done so, we can establish Christmas traditions for ourselves and our families which will help us capture and keep the spirit of Christmas.
- President Thomas S. Monson

My family has a handful of Christmas traditions of the kind of which President Monson spoke. We write on red, white, and green strips of paper things that we're thankful for, then link the strips together to form a "Thankful Chain" that fits for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.

But the best Christmas tradition we have id the Christmas Eve dinner, where we light the room with candles, sit on the floor around a short, wooden table, and eat simple foods, like bread, fruit, and cheese, the kinds of foods Mary and Joseph might have eaten on their journey to Bethlehem. Then we share our testimonies and watch a short nativity video. It's a very nice, quiet, spiritual moment.

I think it's important to make moments like those occasionally. There's a good deal of distractions in people's celebrations of Christmas. There tends to be a good deal of stress and trouble with buying gifts, planning and working on gifts and events, and attending numerous events and gatherings. It's a fairly busy time for a lot of people. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the stress and to observe Christmas without really celebrating the birth of Christ.

But as President Monson said, Christmas is what we make of it. We can make it busy and stressful. We can make it light-hearted and fun. We can make it deep and spiritual. And Christmas can be different things at different times. Even if it's busy and stressful sometimes, we can make it deep and spiritual at other times. And though Christmas should be deep and spiritual at some times, we can still have it be light-hearted and fun at other times. Christmas can be a great time of year in make ways. What will you make of this Christmas?