What Christmas Means to Me

Christmas to me is a celebration, which includes spending time with my family, decorating the entire house, inside and out, and shopping, for the people I love. Doing this with the people I love is what means the most to me.

Spending Christmas with my family is very important to me. We usually gather and celebrate at my parent's house.

Decorating for Christmas is so much fun. My younger brother always draws a new background scenery, for the Nativity scene, that he displays, every year. We start with the decorations for the outside of the house and the front yard. Every year, my parents add a little more to the outside decorations. My mom, and myself decorate the inside of the house. My mom has so many indoor decorations that they can not all possibly be displayed.

We try to change the decorations, which we put out every year. Then it is time to decorate the tree together. I love this the most. The tree is always real, and is usually six to seven feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been collected over the years and are very old. They have become real family treasures. We all have a favorite one that we each put on the tree.

I am not usually a shopper, but during the Christmas season, I actually enjoy shopping. I rarely go into department stores, but during the Christmas season, I love to shop. The stores are so beautifully decorated and very festive. I can easily get carried away, with spending so much money. I must admit the thought of spending too much money hardly comes to mind. I can just picture of look on the faces, of my family and that brings me so much joy.

I feel so fortunate, to have my family throughout the year, but especially, at Christmas time. When showing, my family just how much I love them and what exactly they mean to me. That is so very important to me. Christmas, for me is about being with family, loving each other and showing each other just exactly how we all feel.

Now something very important after the decoration is Christmas carol. It is hard to believe that there is anyone on the planet who is not familiar with the story of A Christmas Carol. Written in a six-week period in October and November of 1843, the novel was the first of five short Christmas books published by Charles Dickens. Obviously, it was the most successful novel in the series. In fact, he was so certain that people would like his story that he refused to sell the rights to his publisher and instead paid to publish it himself. His instincts proved correct, and soon after its publication all of the copies were sold.

In his later years, Dickens would read an abridged version of A Christmas Carol at public readings for which he charged a fee. Often, that fee went to the several charitable organizations that he was involved with throughout his lifetime. The book itself was instrumental in raising people's awareness of poverty.

Since its publication, the story has been told many times in all imaginable forms. Despite the thousands of times that A Christmas Carol has been adapted to stage, radio, movies, and television, the novel remains the most popular and poignant telling of the tale.

Christmas is a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. Some people celebrate Christmas differently, but it is all based upon the birth of Christ. Christmas is on December 25th. This is the day that Jesus is said to be born. Nobody really knows the exact date Jesus was born. Yet, in 137 AD, the Bishop of Rome ordered the birthday of The Christ child be celebrated as a solemn feast. In 350 AD, another Roman Bishop named Julius I, choose December 25th as the observance day of Christmas (The Mass of Christ).

People celebrate Christmas differently from one another. For example, my family celebrates Christmas by decorating our entire house. We also exchange gifts, go to church, and cook a big dinner. Even though we do all these things, we remember the "true" meaning of Christmas - To Celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ.

I still remember during my school days, on the last day of school, I used to give out Christmas presents and cards to my teacher and my friends in class. We always had a party the last day of the term.

In conclusion, though people celebrate Christmas in different ways throughout the world, I learned to celebrate Christmas from my family and church.