What Christmas Really Means

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“Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman” have been blanketing the airwaves for weeks, most people have attended at least several Christmas parties and the last frenzied shopping before the big day is now done.

But where is Jesus Christ? He is what the holiday is all about, after all.

For five consecutive years, we took a large group of fathers and sons on a Christmas mission trip to Zaragoza, El Salvador, from Dec. 18-23. The four villages we visited did not have running water, many homes did not have electricity, the staple food was tortillas and beans — but the people did have Christ.

Christmas for them was not about receiving or giving Christmas presents. When you make $5 a day picking coffee beans, you are in survival mode. A few of the families had a make-shift plastic Christmas tree with some handmade ornaments, and we saw some of the most simple yet beautiful Nativity scenes in the corners of their tin-roofed shacks.

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The highlight for them was to receive a group of villagers who went from house to house dressed up as Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus and the angels, who put on a little show re-enacting this special moment of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The Christmas Mass for them was not Christmas day (none of these people have cars, and most cannot afford to take the bus into the city), so it was when our group showed up in their village chapel. I was impressed to see how they would arrive an hour before Mass in their absolute best clothes, and how they practiced the songs and prayerfully waited for Mass to begin.

The fervor of these rural farmers was so impressive to see. Their Christmas meal was a chicken sandwich, which helped us understand why we saw so many chickens running around during our visit. Our surprise gifts of soccer balls and rosaries put huge smiles on their tired faces.

One of the families that attended this mission trip decided to forgo their Christmas presents that year so as to make a donation to St. Ann’s Orphanage, in Washington, D.C.

They used part of the money to buy some trees and mulch for the orphanage, and as a family, they dedicated an entire weekend to planting these trees and putting down the mulch. The boys at first were not so happy about not receiving any presents, but when they noticed the boys in El Salvador playing soccer in their bare feet, going to the bathroom in outhouses, noticing they did not have televisions (much less video games in their houses), and watching them eat corn tortillas every day with beans, their perspective changed quite a bit.

My family, back in Michigan, had the responsibility every Christmas to put together white bags with sand and a candle inside. My brothers and I delivered these to each home in our neighborhood, and we asked everyone to line up the bags in their front lawn, on top of the snow, so that they formed one continuous line.

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My dad would love to drive around the neighborhood late at night with our whole family in the car to see all of these bags burning brightly and lined up perfectly. Christ was born! The light had conquered the darkness, and this symbol of the candle-lit bags brought it all together.

I know other families that give out pieces of straw to their children for good deeds, so by the time Christmas arrives, the manger is filled with soft straw on which the baby Jesus can rest.

The Advent wreath is another beautiful tradition that helps your children understand the liturgical significance of each week of Advent and the scriptural references that go along with it. Let’s all not get so caught up in the frenetic activity of this season that we forget Jesus.

Be sure to thank him from the heart for giving up his heaven so we can experience his presence and love on earth.

Fr. Michael Sliney, LC, is a Catholic priest who is the New York chaplain of the Lumen Institute, an association of business and cultural leaders.