The Real Meaning of Christmas

By the time Christmas Day shows up, a lot of us are already worn out.

The gifts are opened. 
The paper is everywhere. 
The coffee has gone cold at least once. 
The house feels different than we imagined. 

Maybe fuller. 
Maybe emptier. 
Maybe both at the same time.

Someone you wish were here is not.
Someone you did not expect is sitting at the table.
Something feels tender, even if you cannot quite name it.

If that is where you are today, you are not doing Christmas wrong.
You are doing it honestly.

Letting Go of the Pressure

Somewhere along the way, Christmas picked up a lot of expectations. 

Be joyful.
Be grateful.
Be together. 
Be okay.

But the original story never asked people to have it all figured out. It began with uncertainty. With fear and hope sharing the same small space. With people doing their best and trusting that somehow, it would be enough.

Christmas was never meant to be impressive.
It was meant to be close.

What the Story Keeps Pointing Toward

The meaning of Christmas does not live in how the day looks. 
It lives in how we treat one another while we are in it.

It shows up when someone is patient, even though they are tired.
When someone listens instead of fixing.
When someone stays at the table a little longer.
When kindness happens quietly and without credit.

This is the kind of Love the story has always been about.
Not the dramatic kind. 

The steady kind.

If Today Feels Complicated

Some people wake up on Christmas feeling light and grateful. 
Some wake up carrying grief. 
Some feel both before noon.

All of that belongs here.

If today is joyful, let yourself enjoy it.
If today feels heavy, you are allowed to move slowly.
If today is quiet, that does not mean it is empty.

Christmas does not demand a certain feeling. 
It simply asks us to be present to what is real.

What Remains

When everything else fades, Christmas leaves us with a simple invitation.

Make room for each other.
Choose love when control would be easier.
Trust that small kindness still counts.

Love came close.
Love stayed.
Love keeps showing up in ordinary ways and ordinary people.

That is the meaning of Christmas.

And if that is all today holds, it is enough.