I heard someone say that 2020 is a piece of shit. Yeah, it may be true. It is not a good year for almost all of us. This year brought so much tears and tragedy. With the pandemic going on, most of us have lost already the hope to continue living.

But as they say life must go on despite of all the struggles and the bad things that have happened to us. Exactly, right? Why? Because life is a gift and it is so beautiful and wonderful to live in this such magnificent world!

Christmas won’t be the same again this year. Well, sounds a bit true but we have still plenty of reasons to celebrate Christmas and to be ridiculously excited for this season.

First, is to celebrate the gift of life.

We should be thankful that we are alive and were able to manage life despite the struggle during this pandemic. Not everyone was able to survive and cope up with the pandemic. 

Some people have lost families and loved ones, jobs and reasons to be happy. The pandemic made us more realize that life is so valuable and just so short. Therefore, this Christmas season, we need to be thankful, still be thankful and always be thankful because with the pandemic around the globe, we are still alive, we are still blessed. So let’s celebrate life this Christmas!

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”   – Soren Kierkegaard

Second, to celebrate Christmas with our families and loved ones. 

We don’t usually celebrate Christmas with our families and loved ones because before the pandemic, we were all busy with life – with our work and career and all the other things that we were able to do before the pandemic.

This year’s Christmas enabled us to appreciate the importance of family, the importance of being together, being able to celebrate the holiday season together. This is one thing that we should be thankful for. 

The pandemic, if we look at it from a different perspective, this pandemic gives us the opportunity to give time to our families and loved ones, to spend more time with them because as what we have said above life’s so short and we need to value more the most important things in our life and these are our family and loved ones.

“Christmas is all about family eating, drinking and making merry.”               -Malaika Arora Khan

“Family is the most important thing in the world.” – Princess Diana

Third, to celebrate Christmas with all the surprises and gifts that you expect to receive. 

Christmas is the most awaited time of the year especially for the children because they expect that every Christmas they will receive the price of being nice.

Dear Santa Claus is the most generous image every Christmas and that is what everyone of us is looking forward to, not only the children but everyone of us. We are all young at hearts and the idea of being able to receive a present makes our heart happier.

The excitement that we feel whenever Christmas season arrives is one proof that we are really looking forward to all the good tidings this season will bring to us and all the gifts that we anticipate we might receive whether material things or unseen wonderful gifts and blessings.

So hopefully everyone of us is still excited for Santa’s coming and his presents for us. Believe and you’ll get the surprise you had wished for!

“The greatest gifts are not wrapped in paper but in love.” – fourplusanangel.com

“If you want to experience the meaning of Christmas, give something to someone who can offer nothing in return.” – Toni Sorenson

Fourth, to celebrate Christmas with the heart of giving.  

This is the best reason we must be excited for Christmas. Christmas as we all know is the happiest and the most wonderful time of the year. But with the pandemic, I think it’s not anymore for some people. But, let us not make that happen. We should make this Christmas always the happiest time of the year not only for us but for everyone!

We can be Santa Claus in our own little acts of kindness and generosity. Christmas will always be the time of giving because this is the very essence of Christmas – to give, to offer what we can because we love and we have been loved. 

Christmas happened because of love – God’s love for us. So in return, we must give back this love and share it to our fellow beings especially those whom we think needed the most. Let’s give gifts to families whom we think need some help, for charities, homeless people and animals, to the sick, those in orphanages and homes for the aged, to the prisoners, to the beggars out there and to those whom we think are poor or lacking something in their lives. Also, we can offer help and support to those suffering emotionally and mentally. Our simple acts of kindness can mean so much to them. You will never know how much you’ve changed a life until you see a smile on a face – yours and theirs.

When you give, you will feel the true happiness – the kind of happiness that will not leave you. Experience it my dear friends because not everyone will be able to. Always remember, it is better to give than to receive!

“Want to keep Christ in Christmas? Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive the guilty, welcome the unwanted, care for the ill, love your enemies, and do unto others as you would have done unto you.” – Steve Maraboli

Fifth, to celebrate Christmas with Jesus in the manger.

This is the most important reason that we should be ridiculously excited to celebrate this Christmas 2020 despite the pandemic. Jesus is the reason why there is Christmas and therefore we should bow down to Him as a thanksgiving for giving us this Christmas.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

Two thousand years ago, a child was born in a humble manger where he laid together with the farm animals. And you know who that child was? It was our king, our God, yet He chose to be born in a manger – in that humble dwelling place. 

What is the essence of that humble birth of Jesus? This enabled us to reflect and realize that God despite being God, he humbled himself and gave us all His life to save us from sinful death.

His acts of generosity, humbleness and most especially His selfless love should remind us that we don’t own this world nor are we kings or queens of this world, but we are just humble travelers or passersby in this world. With these, we must not hold on to what we have but be able to share and give to others what we can offer.

Just as God did not hesitate to give us Christmas, we too also must not hesitate to give Christmas to everyone. The joy of Christmas lies within our hearts – the generosity, kindness and love in our hearts. 

Christmas symbolizes the greatest form of love by God by giving His Son. So, we must be reminded that every Christmas is a love giving season. Let us all look back to a child in the manger every Christmas.

Therefore, there is no reason for us not to be excited to celebrate Christmas because Christmas itself is a gift to us and that we should celebrate it as thanksgiving to God’s love for us.

Christmas is love and how do we love? We give!