This blog was intended for Christmas, 2024. I posted something else.
I have always loved Christmas. I loved the excitement of waiting for Santa to come. I’d get up really early to see what Santa brought and then go back to bed to get a little more sleep.
My mother’s brother would come down from Idaho to his daughter’s house nearby so we would always go to her house for Christmas Eve. I played with my cousins while the grownups sat around the dining room table enjoying their holiday cheer.
We always had Christmas dinner at our house. It was always a great meal and lots of fun.
We always went to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. This was when the Mass was in Latin. There was normally not much singing during Mass in those days. The only hymn I remember being sung in English was a closing hymn, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. At Christmas and Easter High Masses all of the Mass was sung. It was beautiful to hear and fun to serve when I was older, unless you were stuck holding a heavy crucifix for long periods of time.
Now Christmas has a different meaning in my life. Santa is no longer involved. My daughters and granddaughters are grown. Christmas now is a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus along with His bringing salvation to us. It is also a time to celebrate with those who are with us and mean so much to us.
Christmas 2023 we were blessed with having our daughter and son-in-law here from Texas. We also had my nephew and three of his adult children and his daughter’s boyfriend. His wife stayed home to prepare for another son who was coming from Texas the day after Christmas. My other daughter and son-in-law and our three granddaughters were here. My cousin, who is also my goddaughter, and her boyfriend filled out the guest list.
From the back by Generations: Nephew, Younger Daughter, Son-in-law/Husband, Older Daughter, Son-in-law/Husband, Cousin’s Boyfriend, Cousin/Goddaughter
Me across from my beautiful wife, Ellen
To my right, two Granddaughters and Grand Niece and her Boyfriend
To Ellen’s left, Granddaughter and two Grand Nephews, Godson in glasses
Last year we had the same group with the addition of part of my older son-in-law’s family. One sister and her family from Arkansas and another sister and her family from Manila.
This year we expect a smaller group.
We are in the Advent season right now. It is always fun this time of year to reflect on the past Christmases and celebrate the current one. I plan to do that this year. However, I think we tend to concentrate on celebrating the birth of Jesus and forget about His promise to come again. I plan to include some time looking forward to Christ’s coming again. The Second Coming should not be feared by those in the state of grace. However, we should always pray for God’s grace to keep us there.
We should also pray for others, especially those we know and love, to repent and return to the state of grace if they need to.
It is nice to celebrate Christmas with ones you love.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Hopeful and Faith filled New Year.
Greg Gillen
© 2025 Greg Gillen
Updated November 20, 2025
An Aramaic expression occurring in St. Paul’s (I Corinthians 16:22) in the verse “If anyone does not love the Lord, a curse on him. Maran atha.” The Christian Fathers understood the term to mean “Our Lord has come.” But more probably it means what St. John has at the close of the New Testament, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20). — Fr. John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life.
Image Credit /maranatha; from the King Alfred’s Old English Version of Augustine’s Soliloquies. /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maranatha#/media/File:Soliloquies_OE_-_maranatha_(British_Library_Cotton_MS_Vitellius_A_XV,_folio_5r).jpg
