I love Christmas time. I love the sights of the lights on the houses, the smells in the air, the tastes of all of the special dishes and sweets, the sounds of Christmas carols, the feel of snow crunching beneath my feet. I love Christmas. One year I was living in Africa just before Christmas. Christmas was very different in Africa. Most of the people did not celebrate Christmas, so you didn’t see Christmas everywhere like you do in America. The weather was very hot so it didn’t feel like Christmas. One thing I will never forget is singing Christmas carols to the beat of an African drum. That year, right before Christmas day I returned to America. One of the first places that I ended up going after I got off of the plane was a Walmart store. I remember being so excited and just turning around in circles in the middle of the store looking at all of the Christmas decorations and just stuff because I love Christmas. My favorite thing about Christmas is that it is the time of year that is meant to remind us of Immanuel – God with us; the fact that God came to earth to be with us. 

 

That day in the Walmart store, Christmas just seemed so huge to me since I had just come from a country that didn’t celebrate Christmas, but the real enormity of Christmas is really stated in those four words: Immanuel – God with us.

 

Matthew 1:23 “’The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’”—which means, “God with us.” NIV