Hannah Hecht's Blog

Christmas… Everything that I seem to come up with as I try to write this blog sounds incredibly cliché. It’s the most wonderful time of the year? It’s not about getting, but about giving? What is the true meaning of Christmas? Ugh… Anything that I seem to come up with has definitely been said before.

When I think of Christmas, I think of my little sister dancing around to her own versions of carols. She’ll spend all day running around and singing “Hark, Harold the angel sings, glory to the newborn king,” “Jack Frost roasting on an open fire,” and, her personal favorite, “Deck the halls with jawls of jolly.” I’m not too sure what a “jawl of jolly” is, but her song brings a smile to my face every single time.

When I think of Christmas, I think of our weirdest family tradition. On Christmas morning, we all circle around the tree and pull out the board game “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” and answer questions in order to open presents. One right answer means that we can open one present.

When I think of Christmas, I think of sitting with my family and watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Elf,” and “A Christmas Story” for the millionth time. All of them are really cheesy, but maybe that’s what makes them fun to watch.

So maybe Christmas is commercialized. Maybe, these days, it has become a little less about the birth of Jesus and more about… Family? Picking out the perfect gift? Snowball fights? Jumping around and singing the wrong words to hymns and carols? Is that really such a bad thing? In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether December 25^th is the exact date of Jesus’s birth; the important thing is that we remember his message of selflessness and love and, most importantly, have fun with family and friends.