I can honestly say that I have been one to utter each of these statements in answer to the question, 'What is Christmas?' Because at different times, during different Christmas seasons, they have each been true.

Christmas's in years gone by truly have been, 'about family.'

Having been married to a man with nine siblings, all with partners and more than a few of those couples producing handfuls of children - ie cousins for my kids (which was quickly adding up into the thirties when you included my side of the family as well) certainly meant for many a monumental gathering on Christmas day! Yes, Christmas was all about family.

Christmas's over many years was also 'about giving.'

I was born with a great big heart of gratitude and generosity. Combine that with a love language of 'gift giving,' a desire to support an untold amount of charities and also people I know, and a business doing relatively okay and you'll get a whole lot of giving going on, particularly at Christmas time! So, yep, it certainly was all about the giving.

Christmas's for seemingly endless years in a row was also, of course, all 'about the kids.'

Six people in our home is more than half a soccer team you know. It's fair to say two of those were adults but Christmas time with a bunch of children really makes you feel like one too. Christmas morning in our home was always vibrant, energetic, playful, messy and fun. It also included someone having to eat half a cookie, drink half a glass of milk and chomp on a carrot outside the front door around midnight (for a Rudolf reality effect not because we like binge eating, particularly on carrots at midnight!) It really was all about the kids though right? Well, yes.

Oh the Christmas Joy! It's all 'about the joy.'

In 1996 I prayed a prayer and found Jesus. Actually He found me. I was the one who was lost! Prior to my prayer, I had a supernatural encounter in my bedroom and three days later, I started attending a vibrant church. It was February. I found true and real joy that I had never known before. By the time Christmas came around, I knew what all the Carols were really about and even when I heard them playing over the loudspeakers in the supermarket, I would cry - tears of joy. It was real. It still is. Can I honestly say Christmas is about...Joy? Yes. But...

But what if there's...

NO JOY.

I've had Christmas seasons whereby I've had good reasons to appear significantly sad, due to circumstances. One year an annual 'hot pink tinsel on the tree tradition' was created, as I grieved the missing child in my family, who had died less than 8 months prior to Christmas Day. Joy, as in 'happiness,' was not something I appeared to have all over my face that year.

The truth is, some people are facing some very real sad situations at Christmas time.

NO PRESENTS TO GIVE.

During Christmas times past, I have been so poor and so needy that there truly was nothing I could give. I relied heavily on charities to feed my growing family including the Christmas snacks at Christmas time and the provision of a toy for my child, wrapped up by a stranger.

The truth is, some people have so little to give and the expectations are just way too big at Christmas time.

NO FAMILY.

I am indeed officially old now I think. Well, I am a Nanny if that counts and although I love my life here in NZ and believe I have been called here to serve, by administering hope to a community that God must have felt needed it, I live over 5000 kilometres away from my adult children and my grandbaby / grandbabies (I say that by faith.) My siblings, my parents, my nieces and nephews, my family, are all very far away.

The truth is, some people are feeling very alone and separated from family at Christmas time.

NO KIDS.

My kids are no longer kids. They are all grown ups. They each have their own lives, own addresses, own families and own Christmas's now. I try and see them all late in the year as a pre-Christmas get-together but look, it's not really the same okay. Those midnight cookie and carrot crunching nights are definitely over.

The truth is, some people are missing the old days of Christmas with their little ones. Others are desperate for children. Still others are missing their own, for one reason or another.

So, What is Christmas? Particularly if youre childless, joyless, penniless and/or have no family around?

Well, it's still about a family. It's still about giving. It's still about joy and it's still about children, (especially one in particular) for all of us.

But for those of us who are experiencing any of the above, it is SO MUCH MORE including - Peace and Hope.

Peace  is a promise that was given to every human being on Earth one night long ago and it's available to each one of us still, no matter who we are and no matter what are circumstances. It was promised to all at a time when a historical star shone so bright in the sky that it caused wise men to travel towards it. It was also a time when a multitude of Angels were seen singing to a bunch of shepherds in that same night sky. They announced this promise of peace that I can vouch is not only attainable but can be felt, even in the midst of chaos and even if that chaos is in the midst of a Christmas season. (Luke 2:13-18).

Hope  was also given on that night. Hope that, despite all that this life does to bring us down, despite all the blows that life punches us with and despite all the suffering we go through, our Creator, God, came down, to be 'with us.' He is able to walk 'with us' comforting us, strengthening us and granting us wisdom and hope through it all. Through our sadness, through our loneliness, through our longings and through our times of our lack. "Emmanuel", one of the titles given to the baby born that night means, "God with us." (Matthew 1:23) Jesus is His name. He was 'given to us' as a gift, that if we choose to receive, will be with us always and will never leave us.

This is the real reason why Christmas is about giving.

It's been noted that Jesus is a friend that sticks closer to a brother and the only one that can make us right with our Father. If we receive Him as the gift that God has freely given to us, we can become God's very own children. (John 1:12,13) This is family.
This is the real reason why Christmas is about family.

He can fill us with unspeakable Joy that is different to circumstantial happiness, which comes and goes. The joy that Jesus gives is unlimited. It's not based on our current situation and it's eternal. It can be felt even through tough times. This joy can be our strength when we feel weak, sad, depressed or overcome with grief. (Nehemiah 8:10) I absolutely know this to be true.

This is the real reason why Christmas is about Joy.

What would you do to create the first Christmas? Would you become an ant?

If you had an ant farm and you dearly loved your precious little ants but there was a fire and all of your little ants were headed for the flames. What would you do? You could yell at them to turn around but would they hear you? You could try and move them all with your big hairy hands but would that be crossing the line of allowing each one of them the choice to walk according to their own free will? What if you could become an ant, just for a little piece of time? Would you? Would you go as far as to risk your own life and stand in the fire so they wouldn't get burnt? Would you go as far as to the point of death, for your beloved ants? How much more does God love us. 

Long before time began, Jesus existed. He left his Heavenly Kingdom to come to Earth because it was the only way to show us The Way (John 14:6). Including the only way back home to our loving creator. He didn't come as a powerful dictator. He came as one of us. He came in a way that we could relate to Him, so we could hear. He came as a human. He came as a baby in a manger. He came as a child. The first Christ-mas.

This is why Christmas is ... about a child.

For unto 'us' a child is born...

If you have no family around you at Christmas time, no gifts or money to buy any, no kids in your circle and joy is just, absent, you can still have a wonderful Christmas because you can have within you, the greatest gift of all, not just at Christmas time but through all time, the greatest of family, the greatest of any child ever born and the greatest joy that even money can't buy - just choose to receive Jesus into your heart this Christmas. A simple prayer will do.

If you would like me to pray for you please contact me.

Merry Christmas to you.

April May x