Christmas

Sometimes it just hits you, what is really important.  You realize as you are surrounded by torn and crinkled wrapping paper that all that money spent on Christmas presents that even after all the hours spent meticulously wrapping box after box none of this means a thing. Sure, your family and friends love you but receiving and even giving are not the reason for the holiday. Even though major amounts of commercialism have managed to sneak into this most sacred holiday the reason is still the birth of our Savior. I am guilty of being swept casually into the wave of consumerism that ebbs and flows through the world this time of year and that fact I will never deny.  But something special happened this year.  I amongst the many gifts I was ever grateful to receive this year I got two wonderful gifts, or treasures. The first is a simple silver necklace in the shape of a tear drop upon which an artist carefully replicated my fathers handwriting, a simple send off at the end of a letter that is now immortalized for me to wear close to my heart. A treasure, not just a gift. Second was a painting I have been admiring since I returned home from Africa.  I am a lover of art and I find pictures of my Savior to be specifically compelling.  In this painting Christ is holding a small African child. Again, not just a gift but a treasure.

Even though Christmas is over I hope we all remember why we celebrate and we carry that spirit throughout the next year.

Merry Christmas.