12/24/2025
What Christmas Is Really About
Christmas was never meant to be loud.
It wasn’t meant to glow with endless advertisements, crowded shopping carts, or the pressure to buy more just to feel like we’ve done enough. Yet somewhere along the way, Christmas became a season measured by sales, decorations, and how much we can give—or spend—rather than by how deeply we can love.
At its heart, Christmas is about Jesus Christ—God stepping into humanity, not in wealth or power, but in humility. No palace. No applause. Just a manger, a young mother, a faithful father, and Heaven touching earth in silence. The King of Kings came quietly, wrapped not in gold but in flesh, to save a broken world.
But today, that sacred moment often gets buried beneath wrapping paper and expectations. We rush past the miracle to meet deadlines. We trade peace for pressure. We celebrate a birthday without the One being celebrated.
And yet—here’s something many people don’t realize.
Where Christmas Was Actually Born From
The celebration of Christmas on December 25th did not originate as a Christian holiday. Long before Christ was honored on that date, pagan cultures marked the winter solstice with festivals celebrating the sun, rebirth, and light returning after darkness. Rome, in particular, celebrated Saturnalia—a time of feasting, gift-giving, and excess.
As Christianity spread, church leaders chose December 25th as the date to celebrate Christ’s birth—not because Scripture names it, but as a way to replace pagan worship with the truth of Christ. Instead of honoring the sun, believers would honor the Son.
But over time, something ironic happened.
The excess returned.
The focus shifted again.
And what was meant to point people away from darkness and toward Christ slowly circled back to indulgence, distraction, and tradition without truth.
Remembering the True Meaning
Christmas isn’t about rejecting joy, gifts, or family gatherings. Those things can be beautiful. But when they become the center, we miss the miracle.
Christmas is about:
• God keeping His promise
• Light entering darkness
• Grace arriving before we deserved it
• Hope being born when the world felt hopeless
Jesus didn’t come to make a holiday.
He came to make a way.
So this Christmas, maybe the most meaningful thing we can do is slow down. Strip it back. Quiet our hearts. Remember that the greatest gift was never found under a tree—it was placed on a cross, and it started in a manger.
When we return Christmas to Christ, the season doesn’t lose its magic.
It finally finds it.