love came down at christmas

Huggies asked us to say what Christmas means to us. This is my bit:

Christmas is a time to remember and celebrate the time when it all began - God, the big huge creator of the universe came to be with us in the form of a tiny little baby, born to a poor family in a nothing village. He came and experienced pain, sadness, joy and frustration just like we do. Through his teaching and miracles he showed us a bit about what the world is going to be like someday when he renews the whole of creation and gets rid of evil once and for all. And most importantly he came to die as a sacrifice for us, to fix up all the mess that we have gotten ourselves into (or, ‘sin’) so that we can live in relationship with him.* He came because he loves us that much.

So for me, I guess the reason that Christmas gets me so excited and giggly is because of love. What God began on Christmas, 2000ish years ago, is HUGE. He loves me, he loves all of us, SOOO much. He chose to die for me. And I guess a great way of celebrating/recognising that is to use it as a time to think about how we love other people: do we love them the way God loves them? (Or just when it is convenient? or easy? sometimes it is a lot easier to think about what is best for me.)

When I sing or hear Christmas songs, the bits that move me the most are always the bits about love, and sacrifice. Cos when I think of Christmas, I think about the events that Jesus' birth set in motion - when I think of Christmas, I think of the cross.

See also:
my christmas rant
emmanuel

*confused? check out www.gotquestions.org