You don't need me to tell you that Christmas time is a special time of year. There's so much going on, so many parties and so much joy, it's no wonder that it's every other person's favorite holiday. Why is it so special though? There are other holidays out there like St. Patrick's Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, so what is it about Christmas that makes it so special?
Today was my company's 'Holiday Party.' Yes, like most of the culture around us, we have to be 'careful' and 'politically correct' when it comes to Christmas terminology. We have to be careful to say 'Happy Holidays' in our signage, our media and most of our content, but still, there's something about 'Happy Holidays' that has a lot more joy behind it than 'Happy Columbus Day,' and I think it's because we all know that 'Happy Holidays' really means 'Merry Christmas.'
At work, we may have had a holiday party, but, secretly, I really think it was a Christmas party. There was too much joy for it to just be a holiday party. Everyone was stoked. It didn't really matter what dirty Santa gift they got (minus the girl who got the $10 pizza I wrapped from Pizza Hut), if they won a raffle prize or not or how much vacation time they would be getting over the next couple of weeks. Honestly, everyone was just really happy, and that made me happy. It was a kind of special, unnatural happy that you only see around this time of year. It was a Christmas happy.
Christmas is funny, what it does to people. It shows us something: for one day we can all come together, and somehow, someway, we show the whole world that we all know how to love one another. Every year on Christmas, that special day, the world shows that it knows how to love. People smile at one another, wave at one another and care for one another. There's this other-wordly joy, and I think it's because at the center of all this other-wordly, Christmas joy is Christ.
-Cliff
Cliff's Note: Christmas has it's miracles, but the biggest one may be the joy and love the whole world seems to experience.