Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: Teresa Heilevang on December 22, 2008, 01:28:21 AM
Title: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Teresa Heilevang on December 22, 2008, 01:28:21 AM
I hope we all do not ever forget the true meaning of Christmas and the real reason we celebrate the night of 'Our Savior's Birth'.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Big Frank on December 22, 2008, 01:36:30 AM
If there were shepherds in the fields at night it must have been springtime.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: MikeBjerum on December 22, 2008, 07:19:43 AM
I messed around on other forums a little, and I've spent time with many groups, but I've never been somewhere where no matter how far off we go in one way or another it is pretty much ok, but someone always brings us back to what is really important.
Thanks M'ette!
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: MikeBjerum on December 22, 2008, 11:50:21 AM
So far I'm having an easy day. My worst task is clearing snow in the subzero weather. The good thing is it gives me time to mess around on here while warming up.
I'm going to steal M'ette's message thread here to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Not knowing what the next ring of the phone will bring always keeps me not knowing when I'll be able to play or must work, and I don't want to miss this opportunity ...
Enjoy the coming days, remeber those no longer with us (Gunman1911, Haz's dad, and I'm sure there are others in everyone's life), enjoy those still with us, and mend the relationships before it is too late.
I look forward to more fun, discussion and manure scattering with each and everyone of you in the year to come!
Merry Christmas All !!!
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Teresa Heilevang on December 23, 2008, 12:22:12 AM
Three years ago, a little boy and his grandmother came to see Santa at the Mayfair Mall in Wisconsin. The child climbed up on his lap, holding a picture of a little girl. "Who is this?" asked Santa, smiling. "Your friend? Your sister?'" "Yes, Santa,' he replied. "My sister, Sarah, who is very sick," he said sadly.
Santa glanced over at the grandmother who was waiting nearby, and saw her dabbing her eyes with a tissue. "She wanted to come with me to see you, oh, so very much, Santa!" the child exclaimed. "She misses you," he added softly.
Santa tried to be cheerful and encouraged a smile to the boy's face, asking him what he wanted Santa to bring him for Christmas. When they finished their visit, the Grandmother came over to help the child off his lap, and started to say something to Santa, but halted.
"What is it?" Santa asked warmly..
"Well, I know it's really too much to ask you, Santa, but ..." the old woman began, shooing her grandson over to one of Santa's elves to collect the little gift which Santa gave all his young visitors. "The girl in the photograph... my granddaughter well, you see ... she has leukemia and isn't expected to make it even through the holidays," she said through tear-filled eyes. "Is there any way, Santa . any possible way that you could come see Sarah? That's all she's asked for, for Christmas, is to see Santa."
Santa blinked and swallowed hard and told the woman to leave information with his elves as to where Sarah was, and he would see what he could do. Santa thought of little else the rest of that afternoon. He knew what he had to do. "What if it were MY child lying in that hospital bed, dying," he thought with a sinking heart, "This is the least I can do."
When Santa finished visiting with all the boys and girls that evening, he retrieved from his helper the name of the hospital where Sarah was staying. He asked the assistant location manager how to get to Children's Hospital.
"Why?" Rick asked, with a puzzled look on his face.
Santa relayed to him the conversation with Sarah's grandmother earlier that day. "C'mon.....I'll take you there." Rick said softly. Rick drove them to the hospital and came inside with Santa. They found out which room Sarah was in. A pale Rick said he would wait out in the hall.
Santa quietly peeked into the room through the half-closed door and saw little Sarah on the bed.
The room was full of what appeared to be her family; there was the Grandmother and the girl's brother he had met earlier that day. A woman whom he guessed was Sarah's mother stood by the bed, gently pushing Sarah's thin hair off her forehead.
And another woman who he discovered later was Sarah's aunt, sat in a chair near the bed with a weary, sad look on her face. They were talking quietly, and Santa could sense the warmth and closeness of the family, and their love and concern for Sarah.
Taking a deep breath, and forcing a smile on his face, Santa entered the room, bellowing a hearty, "Ho, ho, ho!" "Santa!" shrieked little Sarah weakly, as she tried to escape her bed to run to him, IV tubes intact. Santa rushed to her side and gave her a warm hug. A child the tender age of his own son -- 9 years old -- gazed up at him with wonder and excitement.
Her skin was pale and her short tresses bore telltale bald patches from the effects of chemotherapy. But all he saw when he looked at her was a pair of huge, blue eyes. His heart melted, and he had to force himself to choke back tears.
Though his eyes were riveted upon Sarah's face, he could hear the gasps and quiet sobbing of the women in the room.
As he and Sarah began talking, the family crept quietly to the bedside one by one, squeezing Santa's shoulder or his hand gratefully, whispering "Thank you" as they gazed sincerely at him with shining eyes. Santa and Sarah talked and talked, and she told him excitedly all the toys she wanted for Christmas, assuring him she'd been a very good girl that year.
As their time together dwindled, Santa felt led in his spirit to pray for Sarah, and asked for permission from the girl's mother. She nodded in agreement and the entire family circled around Sarah's bed, holding hands. Santa looked intensely at Sarah and asked her if she believed in angels. "Oh, yes, Santa... I do!" she exclaimed.
"Well, I'm going to ask that angels watch over you." he said. Laying one hand on the child's head, Santa closed his eyes and prayed. He asked that God touch little Sarah, and heal her body from this disease.
He asked that angels minister to her, watch and keep her. And when he finished praying, still with eyes closed, he started singing, softly, "Silent Night, Holy Night.... all is calm, all is bright..."
"The family joined in, still holding hands, smiling at Sarah, and crying tears of hope, tears of joy for this moment, as Sarah beamed at them all.
When the song ended, Santa sat on the side of the bed again and held Sarah's frail, small hands in his own. "Now, Sarah," he said authoritatively, "you have a job to do, and that is to concentrate on getting well. I want you to have fun playing with your friends this summer, and I expect to see you at my house at Mayfair Mall this time next year!"
He knew it was risky proclaiming that to this little girl who had terminal cancer, but he "had" to. He had to give her the greatest gift he could -- not dolls or games or toys -- but the gift of HOPE.
"Yes, Santa!" Sarah exclaimed, her eyes bright. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and left the room.
Out in the hall, the minute Santa's eyes met Rick's, a look passed between them and they wept unashamed.
Sarah's mother and grandmother slipped out of the room quickly and rushed to Santa's side to thank him.
"My only child is the same age as Sarah," he explained quietly. "This is the least I could do." They nodded with understanding and hugged him.
One year later, Santa Mark was again back on the set in Milwaukee for his six-week, seasonal job which he so loves to do. Several weeks went by and then one day a child came up to sit on his lap.
"Hi, Santa! Remember me?!" "Of course, I do," Santa proclaimed (as he always does), smiling down at her. After all, the secret to being a "good" Santa is to always make each child feel as if they are the "only" child in the world at that moment.
"You came to see me in the hospital last year!" Santa's jaw dropped. Tears immediately sprang in his eyes, and he grabbed this little miracle and held her to his chest. "Sarah!" he exclaimed. He scarcely recognized her, for her hair was long and silky and her cheeks were rosy -- much different from the little girl he had visited just a year before. He looked over and saw Sarah's mother and grandmother in the sidelines smiling and waving and wiping their eyes.
That was the best Christmas ever for Santa Claus.
He had witnessed --and been blessed to be instrumental in bringing about -- this miracle of hope. This precious little child was healed. Cancer-free. Alive and well. He silently looked up to Heaven and humbly whispered, "Thank you, Father. 'Tis a very, Merry Christmas!"
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Ruger-55 on December 23, 2008, 10:05:31 AM
:'( :'( :'( :'( :'( The power of praying is so great..... I feel for all the chidren in the world that have to take over and deal with what we left them.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Big Frank on December 23, 2008, 05:43:20 PM
If that ever really happened it wasn't 3 years ago. It was a story in a newspaper 14 years ago.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: m25operator on December 23, 2008, 10:02:47 PM
Frank, Jumbo or not, Leave M'lette and her stories alone, or I will find you, tis the season and I appreciate her willingness to share these tidbits, tears and all.
I do believe in the powers of prayer, and have witnessed them, I pray daily for the sick and the infirmed, my wife among them, and some of you guys and gals too. No charge, it's just what I do. Not too many atheists, in a fox hole, and We have a lot of foxholes around these days, metaphorically speaking. No disrespect to those who had to hunker down in a foxhole for survival, let alone had to dig it.
If it was 14 YEARS AGO, and I missed it, I'm sorry, but as you know, there are certain people we look out for around here, and Miss M is at the top of the list. I may have misread you JF, but for whatever reason, it rubbed me backwards.
We were discussing exchanging presents today at work, and we got on the subject of not giving any, one of my customers said, that in his home, when the subject came up, he would ask of the children, " who's birthday is is it? " and how it was not their birthday but Christ's. And when it was their birthday, they would get lots of presents. Just seems to fit.
God bless and Merry Christmas to all of you here.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Teresa Heilevang on December 23, 2008, 11:19:05 PM
Thank you m25.. but I don't think Jumbofrank meant anything by it. I didn't take it wrong at all. On stories like this, I never care if they happened today, or 100 years ago. It is the meaning of the story that is important.
I hope all of you... no matter your faith or belief system.. have a wonderful Christmas and all those around you are full of love and thankfulness for family, health and just the fact that we are on this great planet earth. :-* :-*
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: ellis4538 on December 24, 2008, 09:43:10 PM
I'm going to pass it on believing it really did happen sometime!
Merry Christmas
Richard
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Big Frank on December 25, 2008, 12:40:26 AM
I agree that it's the meaning of the story that's important. It could have happened, but if it did it was a lot more than 3 years ago. The timeline on this story is off like a lot of other things that get emailed to me. I get emails that say "this just happened to a friend of mine" or something like that and it turns out it was something that happened to someone else 10 years ago, or 100, or more. It doesn't change the moral of the story, but I like to get the facts straight when possible.
m25operator, the real reason for Christmas IS NOT hunting people down for revenge. :( As a matter of fact it's not a very Christian thing to do any time of the year.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: runstowin on December 25, 2008, 01:06:39 AM
The real meaning of Christmas? Christ, which means the anointed one, Emanuel, which means God with us.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Teresa Heilevang on December 25, 2008, 11:27:03 PM
Actually I watched the history of Christmas on the History Channel and it was very very interesting. Started out a long long long long time ago as a Pagen celebration of drinking and party and doing illicit things with women. The Dutch came up after a slow evolving with Santa Claus... Not until way way later did the Christians get a hold of it to make it a religious birthday holiday for the birth of Christ.
Revelation 12:1-2 says, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." In 3 B.C., it was on Wednesday, September 11th, which was the only day when the constellation Virgo (represented as a woman) clothed with the sun as it entered the mid-body in its ecliptic course had the moon under her feet. Thus, it was during this day, when Jesus Christ was born.
The information in this show was fascinating. I love the History Channel .
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: runstowin on December 25, 2008, 11:40:05 PM
That timing makes sense, since no shepherds were out in hills with their sheep in December, and some biblical scholars believe Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit during Hanukkah.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Pathfinder on December 26, 2008, 06:17:50 AM
Actually I watched the history of Christmas on the History Channel and it was very very interesting. Started out a long long long long time ago as a Pagen celebration of drinking and party and doing illicit things with women. The Dutch came up after a slow evolving with Santa Claus... Not until way way later did the Christians get a hold of it to make it a religious birthday holiday for the birth of Christ.
Revelation 12:1-2 says, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered." In 3 B.C., it was on Wednesday, September 11th, which was the only day when the constellation Virgo (represented as a woman) clothed with the sun as it entered the mid-body in its ecliptic course had the moon under her feet. Thus, it was during this day, when Jesus Christ was born.
The information in this show was fascinating. I love the History Channel .
I'll second that. I did not get to see the whole show, though, too busy with setting things up for the little blond Sweetie. It was an overwhelming day for her, way too many presents and not all from me. Later in the day, she ended up under the kitchen table playing with a piece of string!
As for Christmas, yeah, lots of influences, had to happen over 2000 years. From the Mithra cult to the Persians to the Danes to the English. From December 25 to the Spring to September. It is interesting to learn the secular portions of the holiday we celebrate, but ultimately, it does not matter - it is symbolic and that is the value - that we pause and remember where our possibility of salvation started.
Christ is the reason for this season - let's keep the remembrance going all year long.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: Rastus on December 26, 2008, 06:32:15 AM
It is important to note, that despite all of the influences, the remembrance of Christ's birth cannot be hidden from the season. The Truth is undeniable as all those other things are obscurities that have been overshawdowed and lost in time.
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: MikeBjerum on December 26, 2008, 07:45:54 AM
I've enjoyed and been warmed by this thread. It shows there is more to a gun nut and the gun culture than what the anti's accuse us of. However, today starts the real work of the Spirit of Christmas. Today is the day that we forget what the last two days represented and jump back into the commercialism. We all need to take the time everyday to remember that what we just celebrated is step one toward the chain of events we will celebrate in April, and that is the lasting Gift that it is all about!
Continued Merry Christmas to all!
Title: Re: The Real Reason For Christmas.
Post by: PegLeg45 on December 26, 2008, 03:28:47 PM
I've enjoyed and been warmed by this thread. It shows there is more to a gun nut and the gun culture than what the anti's accuse us of. However, today starts the real work of the Spirit of Christmas. Today is the day that we forget what the last two days represented and jump back into the commercialism. We all need to take the time everyday to remember that what we just celebrated is step one toward the chain of events we will celebrate in April, and that is the lasting Gift that it is all about!
Continued Merry Christmas to all!
Yes, the reason for Christmas is a life-long celebration.