Sunday, December 14, 2014

Remember What It's All About - Part Two

There's just so much you can write about the meaning of Christmas.

I think we all know the classic A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The miserly Scrooge and the cast of Christmas loving people.
Scrooge has a change of heart as he sees how his past choices have made up his present time and how the choices he makes now will decide the future. He learns to live in the Past, Present and Future; he promises to remember the past (but not linger on it too much), live in the present and look forward to the future.

I don't know if this exactly has a lot to do with the meaning of Christmas but I really like it; there's a radio drama series called Adventures in Odyssey. It's a great and teaches valuable lessons.
There's a couple episodes on the Christmas season.
One reminds us that if we can't be with our families for Christmas, or we're just feeling down during the holidays, simply remember past memories, Christmas or not. It also suggests that if you're feeling down, go serve someone. Sound funny? I can't blame you but I don't know how many people I've heard who've said the same thing.
Two other episodes, both in three parts, tell the story of Christ's birth and the travel and visit of the Magi, or Wise Men.

The episode I'm going to focus on is called The Day After Christmas. It's about a girl named Annie who, although she received a truckload of presents the day before, is already bored. She doesn't realize what she has.
She has the opportunity to visit a ghetto and befriends an elderly widow who everyone basically ignores. She learns that there's more to Christmas then the presents.
She learns that a part of the Christmas Spirit is service.

Service has always been an important thing in my life. Leaders at church talk a lot about it and I hear about it at home too.
Service is selflessly giving of your time, talents or things for someone else. 
Service is a big part of the holiday season. I don't mean that people just randomly throw money out of their cars or anything but people are so much more inclined to serve in the months of November and December then in any months of the year. I don't know why exactly that is but everyone says that. And it's true.



Christmas is a time when, although money can be a problem and days are packed full of activities and parties, we all tend to pull together in different ways.
We care for people more, we bake cookies and give them to people, we wish the best for everyone. I know there are people who do these kinds of things all year long but it happens more around Christmas.



So, as you go about your busy holidays, remember, there's more to Christmas then the worldly things.




(Yes, I know, I've already packed 3 videos in this article but this last one is a great video about the meaning of Christmas) 

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All these videos can be found on YouTube and LDS.org

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