Remember why we celebrate Christmas

Is the spirit of Christmas still alive? The holidays are a wonderful time of year where ordinary people give thanks and are more conscious to help others; but when you hear the word Christmas, what really comes first to your mind? Unfortunately, I doubt it has anything to do with Christ being born. What most likely comes to mind is shopping and decorations and all the delicious foods that come with Christmas.

All of these are wonderful things that contribute greatly to the memories of Christmas, but we soon become blind by all of these distractions and forget the true meaning of what we are celebrating.

As we become distracted by worries such as presents and prices, people become selfish in a time of year when we should be thankful the most. There is no other time of year that we celebrate the joyful birth of Christ, so if materialistic things become more important to us, then people are never truly in the spirit of Christmas. Not to mention that if this is the only time of year people actually think of Christ, then they never will be thinking of him once the thought to Christmas is all about getting gift shopping over with and may other materialistic things.

If people start to focus on the real meanings of Christmas, then there would be a greater sense of selflessness. As our world moves quickly, people start to lose values and tradition. Before the nation becomes blinded by all the materialistic things, we should take a minute, or even a few seconds, and remember why we have celebrated Christmas for the past 2,000 years.

Keeley Quinlan

Jacobs High School

Algonquin