Children still understand the feast of Christmas; they still sometimes feast to excess in the matter of plum pudding or turkey. But there is never anything in the least frivolous about their attitude to a plum pudding or a turkey. Still less is there anything frivolous in their attitude to a stocking or a Christmas tree. They have the serious and even solemn sense of the great truth; that Christmas is a time when things happen; things that do not always happen. (G.K. Chesterton, 1925)

In this paragraph of Chesterton’s , he expresses the core of his perception that, while adults bemoan the commercialization of Christmas and the secularizing of the Christmas celebrations, there is never any doubt that for children, the experience is still out of time and place, and some-how exists in heaven as well as on earth. Isaiah tapped all those feelings and expressed them in his wonderful chapter 9:6: For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Children know that nothing else has been heralded by
God’s angels as the birth of God’s son. They know that no other holiday has so many people singing so many songs. They understand that a “new thing” has arrived, and that it is wonderful. The gifts may seem to be the centerpiece for children, but underneath the toys lies the truth that “Christmas is a time when things happen; things that don’t always happen.” only once did the angel Gabriel speak to a young woman and tell her that she would deliver God’s infant son to the world. Only once did the wise en come from another nation to see this child, and only once did shepherds find their way to Bethlehem to see the baby. The story, so simple, yet so strange, speaks of family, and “The family is the first school of living” (Pope John Paul II)

Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ( Mark 10:14) The Kingdom of God came to a stable and it comes to each of our homes when we celebrate the birth of the Christ child. For more than two thousand years this event has been celebrated in much of the world. The “things” of Christmas are intangible. They are also spiritual and sometimes emotional. We remember the every year and they helped shape us and bring us closer to God.

Love in Him,

Prue