Osler's Razor

I don't see how gifts can have much to do with any true meaning of Christmas.
 

I do. I love taking the time to notice what people enjoy or need and think that a gift can be an expression of love. It shows that you know that person and you want to please them, that doesn't mean it has to be expensive.

For instance, there are few things that delight my grandmother more than a good cup of coffee. I picked out two of my favorite coffees and got her a bag of each.

Also, my dad has never been a good reader, and a few years ago my mom got him the Harry Potter books on CD. He has listened to them over and over. For Christmas I got him Eragon, another fantasy book, on CD.

Gifts are a demonstration of love and care. The three wise men brought Jesus gifts.

Quite frankly I'm sick and tired of people acting like gifts are the opposite of Christmas. Lots of things are "truly" Christmas. Jesus, yes. But so is time with family, helping other people and giving gifts to people you love. People need to get over this anti-gift thing that seems to be prevalent this year.
 

I forgot to add what I think might be a better way to ask "what is the true meaning of christmas?" which would be "what makes christmas special?"

This phrasing is open to several answers, the religious answers, the answers about family, the answers about helping others less fortunate, and even the answers about giving.
 

I think the true meaning of Christmas is just being with your family or with whomever you call your family. Maybe you have a big extended family and it is all Norman Rockwell. Or maybe your "family" is a divorced chiropractor and a couple of lesbians - whatever..
Whatever "family" means to a person, I think that is entwined with Christmas and the meaning of it.

My family right now is Bill, my 4 year old Spencer and Amy, my crazy learning impaired dog who gets into the trash every two seconds. it is as "nuclear" as I think we are ever going to get. However, for years and years my family was a bunch of friends that would come over on every holiday and we would have loud debates and eat and drink and watch old movies and play Trivial Pursuit until all hours of the night.

I think Christmas is about spending time with the PEOPLE you love. Last year I was with my family on a goat farm and this year we are back in our house. For the past two years we have had less presents etc but we were together and healthy. Next year we will either have maybe more OR maybe less. Still, all I can hope for is that we will all be together.
 

Gifts have everything to do Christmas. Bethany points out the wise men and their gifts. And I'd add the two greatest gifts ever: God giving us His Son and Jesus giving His life for a sacrifice for sin. So the Christmas gifts we give each other symbolize those gifts.

The question I would ask is, "how can we best keep Christmas?" I just finished A Christmas Carol by Dickens, and Scrooge's pledge to keep Christmas, past, present, and future, is rather profound. It required him to give generously to the Crachits and others in need and to receive graciously from his nephew Fred, all the while focusing on that ancient star that guided to a humble stable in Judea.
 

The better question is: why did the Catholic Church feel it was necessary to ruin a perfectly good Jul celebration with their unnecessary tackings on of stories of miraculous births? Do you know how hard it is to sail to England and plunder some unsuspecting village if, at the same time, you get a sappy story about a kid being born in a barn? Imagine how much fun you won't be having when you torch a barn on that raid. I mean, couldn't they have picked the more logical Northern European pagan festival to replace as the story for the birth of the messiah and chosen Beltane? Though to be honest, I'd probably rather have the fertility rights than gift-giving.

You know, I'm just going to say it. The early Church were a bunch of party-poopers.
 

Lane! Cut them some slack, they were dodging lions left and right!
:D

I like the question: "What does Christmas mean to you?" Because it elicits responses like Bethany's and Lane's, and reveals how multifaceted the holiday truly is. The thing is, I think the answer is love. Just love.