Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. This year was especially exciting for me as I was able to be with my entire family (there are eight of us siblings) to celebrate not only Thanksgiving, but also to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. On Thanksgiving evening, about 30 of us crammed into my parents’ living room, and we had a special time of sharing what we were thankful for. Our praises ranged from travelling mercies, new shoes at a good price, to having our family all with us. There was laughter, and there were tears of joy as we thanked God for his blessings on our family.
Thanksgiving was hardly over before the next holiday season was upon us in full force. The day after thanksgiving is often spent decorating the house for Christmas or shopping to get good deals on Christmas goodies. Whether giving or receiving them, gifts are a large part of Christmas. For many, the reason for Christmas is to give and receive gifts. In my family, we never did quite make it to Christmas to open our gifts. As soon as school was out for Christmas break, we kids began making not so subtle hints that it was a pity that all of those gifts were sitting there waiting for a week, when we could be enjoying them the entire break. Apparently, this logic made sense to my mother and we always ended up opening our gifts well before Christmas day. Because of this, I have never associated gifts with Christmas day, but with the season instead.
Christmas day was always special to us. We got up early on Christmas day because it would be a day that would be packed with fun. To us, Christmas was a day that we celebrated the birth of Christ and we enjoyed each other as a family. We began the day with breakfast and then a time sitting together, usually around the fireplace, where someone read the Christmas story and we talked about that special day so long ago. We then gathered around the piano and sang Christmas carols until our voices were gone.
The rest of the day was filled with fun. We just enjoyed each other. This was a day when my family played together. If the weather was nice, we went outside and played kickball, football, or hide and seek. If the weather wasn’t nice, we stayed inside and pulled out our favorite board games or a jigsaw puzzle and spent the time just enjoying each other and eating yummy Christmas treats. We never quite wanted to go to bed on Christmas evening, as we knew that the next day was a day when work had to be done, and that period of family togetherness was over for another year.
Christmas is a time for many things, for giving, for sharing, for being together with family, but most of all for worshiping the Savior who came to earth as a baby, to die as a man, so that we could spend eternity with him in heaven. This Christmas, take time out from all of the giving and receiving of gifts to worship the Savior and to spend time with your family.
Christmas blessings of love, joy, and peace to you all!
Deborah K. Secord, Ed.D.
Principal