The constants of Christmas

The changes and constants of Christmas

By Tony Godfrey, Harvest Baptist Church pastor

In the late morning hours on Christmas morning, all the family from the surrounding area would begin arriving to the small house on the corner. Everyone took the same path into the living room to add to the pile of presents under the tree, through the dining room to a chorus of greetings, and into the kitchen with their contribution to the coming meal at 1 o’clock.

There was a floorboard at my grandmother's house that would creak and moan as someone would walk through the doorway separating the kitchen and dining room. That floorboard would get a workout as the kids ran around to play, the teenagers found a TV to watch, and the adults crammed around the dining room table to catch up on the latest gossip.

After lunch was over, we all sat around the living room opening presents and throwing balls of wrapping paper at each other in a mock snowball fight. Every year seemed to follow the same script. We always had ham and mashed potatoes with sides of laughter, tears, arguments, leftovers, and the feeling that nobody wanted it to end—but it always did. The family would return to their homes, and the corner house and its floorboard would go silent.

Sadly, those Christmas days have all but come to end. My grandmother passed away, and many within the family have moved away. We’ve all since grown up with families and traditions of our own. Every few years or so, we try to make it back to that small southwest Kansas town to relive what we once had. But it isn’t the same; and as I get older, I don’t think it should be. I don’t remember many of the gifts I received on those Christmas days, but I remember opening them. I don’t remember the conversations we had, but I remember having them. Every Christmas morning, I get to open the gift of the memories of those Christmas mornings past. Every Christmas morning, I get to open the gift of making memories that my family will open on Christmas mornings future.

My wife and I have been married for twenty-three years, our kids are all but grown, and we have our own Christmas traditions now. We wake up to a well-lit tree, melodies of traditional Christmas songs, and the smells of coffee and cinnamon rolls. There aren’t a bunch of presents under the tree, because we try to keep it to about three apiece.

As a child, I never understood what Christmas was about. I didn’t understand that we give gifts because God gave us the greatest gift in his son Jesus Christ. I didn’t understand that belief in his death for sin, his burial, and his resurrection opens God’s gift of eternal life to all mankind. As a family, we choose to celebrate that gift by reading the story of Jesus’ birth before any present is touched or opened. Afterwards, we spend as much time with as much family as possible. I love it.