A Gift That Keeps Giving

On December 25th, we will gather with family and friends to celebrate one of the most important holidays in Christianity. My Orthodox friends will celebrate it a few days later, as they utilize a different calendar, and will celebrate Christmas on January 7. Those of the Orthodox faith utilize the Julian calendar. It is older than the Gregorian calendar, which is utilized by other Christian faiths. 

My family celebrated both dates, as my grandparents on my dad’s side immigrated here early in the 1920s. My mom’s side of the family were Irish and from Belgium. 

Regardless of where they were from or what day they would celebrate the Christmas holiday, they came together on those days, allowing us to reflect on the meaning of that special day while enjoying family, good food and gifts.

I’m not about to tell you as kids that we didn’t look forward to the arrival of the Sears catalogue or marvel at the displays in the stores my mom would take us into, for we did.

As I’ve said many times before, I worry that we are beginning to lose the basic understanding of what this holiday is all about. The commercialization of the holiday seems to grow every year without fail. I recall walking into stores this year seeing Christmas lawn decorations out before, or with, Halloween displays.

I’m positive I am living in a very different time than those my parents lived in. I’ve begun to believe that the true meaning of this special day has slipped from our grasp in many cases. Some people I have spoken with say it began when we pulled prayer from schools, as well as the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance. I’m not sure it’s that simple as a moment of silence, but I do think we could have handled the prayer issue differently. 

The last several decades have been ones of great challenges to our nation. It is almost as if we continue to struggle with who we are as a people. Maybe we have become the generation that expects too much or feels “entitled” to opportunities that generations before never took for granted.

I live a life today that my parents could only have dreamed of. Although I was never hungry or cold as a child, we were never of great means. But my family lacked none of the necessities needed to make sure that those basic needs were met. As I’ve said before, my dad passed at a young age, but my mother performed flawlessly to ensure that her three children were well-cared for during their formative years.

I was reminded of my past last week, when I had the privilege to accompany several other members of the Christmas Island Style Committee to deliver food and gifts to a local farm community. We took Santa along with us so those children would understand they were not forgotten.

However, before we ate a wonderful barbeque meal with them, the families joined together in prayer for the bounty they were about to receive. Santa stood right beside the leaders of that community as a young lady led us all in prayer. Not a sound could be heard in that large barn while she spoke those words.

Before they left that evening, we delivered a generous supply of food for them to take home for their Christmas dinner and Santa handed out gifts with each child’s name on it.

It was a moving experience, and it was through the generosity of our island that we were able to make a difference in the lives of both young and old, as we came together to provide hope for everyone there.

It is time we brought back the significance of the holiday and what its true meaning should be about. Over the 16 years I spent as Chairman of Christmas Island Style, I was never prouder of what we accomplished than when we started the efforts to reach out with a helping hand for those that truly were in need, whether on the island, or just off it.

The centerpiece of what is important about the holiday should revolve around the gift of “Hope.” That gift was bestowed upon us with the birth of a small baby in a manger 6,676 miles away from us here on Marco Island, near the town of Bethlehem. I’ve had the privilege to visit there once while in Israel, as well as many of the other ancient sites in that great nation. I was struck by a tremendous sense of emotion, especially in Jerusalem, as the historic nature of just being there was overwhelming.

For us, the next generation or two yet to come will hold the future in their hands, if we don’t mess it up first. It is our responsibility to help them understand what the two generations that came before us understood and attempted to pass on. 

If we could take a pledge during the next year to be generous, kind and helpful to others we could go a long way to healing some of the most pressing problems within our society. By doing so that will provide future generations a gift under the tree that will keep giving throughout the next year.