As I celebrate my 50th Christmas, I have spent a lot of time this year thinking about what this season means to me.
A South African Christmas, unlike my picture, is hot, hot, hot 🔥! Hence the reason Christmas in July has become a big thing here as we try to copy cat the American Christmas winter cheer!
My passion for celebrating Christmas with gusto, strangely did not originate from childhood but rather following my late father's passing. He has collapsed shortly before Christmas from a brain hemorrhage/stroke in December 1997, and sadly passed of 10 January 1998. For many years after that I just could not celebrate Christmas with any cheer.
As my soul recovered, I discovered a love for Christmas I had never known before and it has grown since then every year and this year for my 50th Christmas I have gone all out to make my home festive and fun.
I celebrate now for many reasons. As a child I fondly remember the fun my sister and I had each year as we put the tree up and decorated it together. It would always be a summer of fun, with hours and hours in the pool, swimming until our toes bled (we had a concrete pool).
At this time of year there were more parties and braai's and visitors than I you can imagine and we loved every minute. Mom was always baking something, and her Christmas cakes were legendary.
As a young adult living in Joburg, I remember going to Sandton City many times to see their giant Christmas tree. I have worked through many festive seasons, ensuring that my colleagues could spend time with their families and although these times were often lonely, being home with my little fur balls gave me great joy.
But what is all of this, if I don't speak of the reason for it all. Is it decorations and trees and trips to the mall?
No! It is about Jesus! I look into the night sky over this season and wonder what it might have felt like for the three wise men to sojourn all the way from the far East to where this little child lay. Or the shepherds as a mighty spectacle of the Glory of God and angels appearing before them. It truly was a season for the miraculous!!
God in His might had sent His Son, to start the journey of life that would lead to the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind.
How can we not but celebrate that with all our might, and remember the proclamation of the Angel of the Lord, as he proclaimed "Peace on Earth and goodwill towards men!".
