Birthday Celebrations

Tomorrow is my neighbor’s birthday. She’ll be 75, so we threw her a surprise

birthday party today.  Her daughter, Kerry, set it up a couple weeks ago, inviting Mary Carol’s friends from her church and her neighborhood.  We met a local coffee café where Kerry had a table set up with a cake and two balloons blown up like a 7 and a 5. Mary Carol thought she was going to "meet a friend” at the café. She was blown away when she walked in the door and saw all of us, which made it all the more fun.  

A little more than 2,000 years ago, Someone else had a birthday, but it was nothing like today’s celebration for Mary Carol. Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem, Israel.

No one on earth knew about it except 

God and Jesus' earthly parents, Mary and Joseph. There was no celebration with a cake, balloons, or gifts.  In fact, Jesus was God’s gift to the world. And he was born in a stable because there wasn’t any room at an inn where Mary and Joseph hoped to at least find a warm night’s sleep after traveling on a donkey for days. Instead, they  found themselves in the middle of a field, surrounded by cows and sheep, hardly a sterile environment like we take for granted these days. Still, God’s plan to bring us back to Him was unfolding.  

Even though we don’t know the exact day Jesus was born, since our calendar isn’t the same as it was then and there, we celebrate it on December 25^th  every year. And we set up manger scenes like the one above in my home to replicate what we think the environment would have been like, although I’m sure they’re much cleaner and more orderly today than it was back then. 

Many churches and schools put on Christmas concerts and plays to remind us of the meaning of Christmas. We go Christmas caroling, have parties, and go on shopping sprees to give gifts to those we love. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. 

I’m not sure what part of Christmas I enjoy the most. Caroling and listening to Christmas music definitely rank up toward the top of the list.  So does enjoying hot chocolate in front of a fire.  Some Christmas concerts like the one at Azusa Pacific University get me in the spirit of the year too.  Even though I live on the opposite end of the country now, I still have the music on CD, so I can have it with me in my home or my car. In the midst of it all, I have to remember that Christ's coming to earth for us was the center of it all a little more than 2,000 years ago.

There are more than 7 billion people in the world and we’re all different. What does Christmas mean to you?  How do you celebrate it?  What are some traditions you enjoy? 

photo courtesy of amazon.com