This Christmas marks a distinct change for my family.
This week my little sister(pictured right) and best friend flew to Iwakuni, Japan, where she
will be stationed at the marine base for the next two years. In our family she
is our Christmas angel. She is the one that gets super excited about decorating
the house, putting up the tree, and continuing the many family traditions that
come with this season (her middle name is even Noel, which means Christmas, so
it’s like it was meant to be). This has made it more difficult at times to find
meaning in this normally joyful season. While many times at Christmas we do
focus on the many fun traditions that most families have, we sometimes forget
that this can be a time when we not only experience big changes, but also a
time of year that reminds us of changes in life that are not always pleasant.
Loved ones are missed at this time of year and families are not always able to
be together. It is so very important to remember that while this Christmas may
not look the same as past Christmases, the real reason for the season is still
the same. Our savior, Jesus, was born to save us from our sins and provide us
with a way to spend eternity with him. There is so much joy in that promise!
One of my favorite Christmas verses is found in Luke:
And the angel said to
her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. –
Luke 1:30-33
In this verse I can almost hear the joy bubbling out
of the angel. The angel, Gabriel, gets to tell Mary that she is going to give
birth to the Savior of the world and that His kingdom will last forever. It
will last forever because in the end Jesus wins! So while this Christmas may
not look the same as others, (and some of those changes may be great) remember
that the real reason that we get to celebrate this time of year is because our Savior was brought into the world. He was sent to become a man so that we could
have a loving relationship with him, and so that we can party it up later with
him in heaven. For me that is definitely something to get excited about!
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My name is McKenna Plummer and I am a senior at
Christopher Newport University. I am a biology major with chemistry and
leadership minors. I plan on eventually attending PA school and would like to
eventually participate in medical missions. My favorite Christmas tradition is
what my family does leading up to Christmas. My Mammy always gives everyone a
present that we call “shake-me’s.” This gift is normally given a couple of
weeks before Christmas and is the only gift that you are allowed to touch
before Christmas morning. If you guess the gift correctly then you get to open
it right away. If you do not correctly guess your gift you have to wait until
Christmas Eve to open it. I’m pretty sure that I have only guessed correctly
once, but there is still hope for this year!
This Christmas marks a distinct change for my family.
This week my little sister(pictured right) and best friend flew to Iwakuni, Japan, where she
will be stationed at the marine base for the next two years. In our family she
is our Christmas angel. She is the one that gets super excited about decorating
the house, putting up the tree, and continuing the many family traditions that
come with this season (her middle name is even Noel, which means Christmas, so
it’s like it was meant to be). This has made it more difficult at times to find
meaning in this normally joyful season. While many times at Christmas we do
focus on the many fun traditions that most families have, we sometimes forget
that this can be a time when we not only experience big changes, but also a
time of year that reminds us of changes in life that are not always pleasant.
Loved ones are missed at this time of year and families are not always able to
be together. It is so very important to remember that while this Christmas may
not look the same as past Christmases, the real reason for the season is still
the same. Our savior, Jesus, was born to save us from our sins and provide us
with a way to spend eternity with him. There is so much joy in that promise!
One of my favorite Christmas verses is found in Luke: