WHAT IS CHRISTMAS FOR YOU: A HOLIDAY OR A HOLY DAY?

Chrsitmas is celebrated universally: the celebration is such that regardless of religious affinity most of the people join in the celebrations. If the Christmas celebrations started the previous week of the Christmas day (this is what I remember: I assume that the celebration of Christmas  may have been just for a day among the previous generations!) - starting with carol rounds, sending greeting cards, hanging a Christmas star etc. and ending with  a carol service on the previous day of Christmas. Now the celebrations of Christmas starts as the page of the calender turns to Decemeber (it is jokingly said that the stars first appear in front of the Liquar Shops declaring the coming of Christmas. What an irony!). Christmas stars of various kinds and illuminations are presented with all kinds of pomp. In the Western countries, exchange of gifts is very common. We are so much involved in the celebrations of Christmas that we forget the context, meaning and content of Christmas. (I assume that I do not have to narrate to the readers what is the context, meaning and content of Christmas).

It is in this backdrop of realities I am prompted to ask my readers: What is Christmas for you: A holiday or a holy day? Though the words are pronounced almost the same manner, we know it has a world of difference in the meaning and content.  Let us try to recapture the true context, meaning and content of Christmas. 

I take this opportunity to wish my readers a meaningful Christmas recapturing the context!  Let our celebrations focus on the content of Christmas.  Let us be a step forward in becoming more humane, taking the model of Jesus Christ who showed us what a human being should be, as we celebrate Christmas this year.