This is what Christmas means to me.

The music, the laughter, the childlike innocence, lights & decorations, gifts and acts of kindness that put a smile on someone else’s face as well as our own,

This is Christmas. <3

I love this time of year mostly for the extra feeling of love that is felt.

This usually comes from giving and serving.

This is also known as Charity.

CHARITY= THE PURE LOVE OF CHRIST.

I want to share a special thought about what Christmas really means to ME.

Twelve years ago this month, my sister passed away from a battle with breast cancer. without going into any of the heart breaking details, I will just say it was a tough holiday season. I put a tree up with lights on it that year, but didn’t really feel like decorating and didn’t put ANY ornaments on the tree. I actually enjoyed sitting by the tree and looking at the lights on a bare tree. It gave me a feeling of peace that I so desired, but it also bothered me that I wasn’t into decorating because it was always something I loved about the Holiday Season. One day, a couple of women from my church came by and brought me a gift that they had given all the ladies at church. It was an ornament. A clear ornament with a transparent image of Christ.

{Clear ornament with image of Christ}

I immediately put the ornament on the tree and could see Christ’s image glow through the lights on the tree. That was the only ornament put on my tree that year. That was all it needed. From that point on my tree had more meaning to me than it ever had before. I looked at that tree with that one little ornament numerous times that season. It brought me the peace and joy of the season. I will never forget that year. Every year since, that ornament finds a home on my tree along with all the other fun decorations. Its my favorite ornament!