Christmas Day
Can you believe it?! With all the turmoil this year, we made it to experience the Joy of Christmas and the Celebration of Jesus’s Birth!
Ask five different people what Christmas means to them and you’ll probably get at least three different answers. I love Christmas! Period! I love the fact that for me, Christmas is the time I thank all those who have helped me and given me so much throughout the year.
It goes back to my youth. My dad died when I was fifteen. But up until then, as soon as I was able to walk, my dad would take me around the week before Christmas to deliver a smile, handshake, and fruit basket to his most cherished clients. Watching him express his gratitude to others and, in turn, observing their warm and cordial responses, I would not fully comprehend the gravity of this exchange until years later in my own business. My dad would chat about life and living it to its fullest, no matter what I would chose to do for an occupation. This was the only time of year my dad and I would have this time together.
Those of you who have closed on a few decades of life, I hope you have fond memories of the magic of Christmas and family times together…
The baking of cookies with mom and grandma… hoping Santa would get your special list of desired items and that maybe one or two would end up under the Christmas tree come Christmas morn… all special memories. If I had one wish, besides Peace on Earth and no Covid in 2021, I’d wish for each of you parents to re-experience, if only for a moment, that anticipation and excitement we felt as kids on Christmas Eve!
As a thought-provoking exercise and a few commentaries to possibly live by, I took a deeper look at the letters of Christmas.
C: Christ our Savior, born in a lowly stable manger to save us from sin and give us everlasting life. May the brightness of his birth give us strength and courage through life’s darkest moments.
H: Happiness, the feeling we get when we put someone else’s needs before our own.
R: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, a great song from Aretha Franklin and what we should give everyone in the world today, regardless of their race, creed, or color.
I: Involved, what we all need to be more of, to get the world back on track.
S: Serve, as Jesus and the Hard Rock Café so simply state it… Love All… Serve All.
T: Truth, what we all strive for but don’t always find.
M: Meaningful, what we all want our time on earth to be, yet we sometimes fail to realize the face in the mirror is the one who can make it happen.
A: Attitude; I have found a positive one helps you get through all the holiday get-togethers with the in-laws and out-laws, who may have lost some of the true meaning of Christmas.
S: Smile, that which should appear on your face and in your heart, when you think of God’s love and that little baby lying in the straw on that December night in Bethlehem. And with Mary and Joseph lovingly looking down, as any parent would, at this most beautiful creation before them. Keeping that thought in your mind, along with the sights and smells of a manger on a crisp December night in Bethlehem, listen to the wind as it speaks to the importance of this night…
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Would one day walk on water?
And would save our sons and daughters?
This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
Has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby
You kiss the face of God
(paraphrased from the song Mary, Did Know?)
Therein, I feel, lies the true importance of Christmas and the celebration of love and hope.
May the emotional uplifting that this season brings carry you and your loved ones into the New Year with the strength and courage that we can beat any damn virus and the confidence we will be victorious in ending the wearing of masks.
I wish all of you and yours a joyous holiday season and a meaningful and healthy New Year!
- Dr. Pfister