Cap's Corner: How Christmas lifts our souls

by Cap McIlnay

What is about Christmas that makes us happy?

And so it begins! This wonderful, crazy, family-oriented season of Christmas. I love this time of year. Think about how drab this time of year would be without Christmas. All the grass is brown, and the trees look like strange skeleton creatures. Death seems to be the theme for this season. Or it would be, if it were not for Christmas!

Instead of dreary surroundings, we have colorful lights framing the roofs of our homes. We have wonderful decorations scattered across our lawns, doors, and windows. We have an evergreen tree, fake or real, in our living room. And we decorate that tree with colorful lights and ornaments. We place gifts under these trees, but only after we wrap them in bright-colored wrapping paper and top it off with a beautiful bow.

What is it about Christmas lights, Christmas decorations, and Christmas presents that lifts our souls?

One would think that this would be enough. But oh, no! This is just the beginning. We behold many beautiful sights with our eyes, and our ears get to celebrate this season as well. On Thanksgiving Day, or right after it, there will be at least one radio station playing Christmas music 24 hours a day. Just about every store you venture into will be playing Christmas music as well.

It is not just the Christmas music that we hear, but also the sound of laughter – of families coming together – that is even sweeter at this time of year than at any other time. It is as if Christmas had its own sound that delights our ears.

What is it about Christmas music and Christmas sounds that lifts our souls?

It’s like one of those infomercials one can find late at night on some TV channels. You know, the ones that say, “But wait! If you order now, we will throw in an extra one of [this or that].” Christmas is like that, for Christmas is not finished.

We haven’t talked about the smells of Christmas! Oh, the scent of Christmas explodes in our noses. The smell of sugar cookies, cinnamon, turkey dinners, freshly baked rolls, and dressing; the aroma of a child’s breath as he or she just finished eating a candy cane, and reaches up to give you a kiss.

What is it about Christmas smells that lifts our souls?

There’s even a Christmas “touch.” It's the feeling of a velvet Santa Claus’s suit. Or the way you feel when wearing a comfy set of Christmas pajamas as you curl up on the couch, warm and secure, to watch a Christmas TV show. The feeling of sticking a single piece of tinsel between your teeth blowing as you watch it dance in front of your face.

We all know and remember the Christmas touch as we wrap Christmas presents for our loved ones. We feel the wrapping paper, struggle with the tape, and touch the bow as we finish wrapping that last present.

What is it about Christmas touch that lifts our souls?

Let us talk about that Christmas feeling. It’s in the air, every time we go outside and see, hear, touch, and smell Christmas. It is that feeling of coming in from the cold and warming yourself by the fire, as the Christmas decorations and the fire in the fireplace are the only sources of light.

There just seems to be more joy in our daily lives and our daily encounters. There is a feeling of more smiles and more happiness. That feeling of watching a children wander up and down the aisles of the toy store, with images of Christmas morning playing across their faces. It is a joy of anticipation of that special morning we call Christmas morning. There seem to be more good feelings and good thoughts now than at any other time of the year. In short, there just seems to be more love during the Christmas time.

What is it about Christmas feelings that lifts our souls?

It is the reason for the season…HE is the reason of the season. Just in remembrance of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man brings everything together for this delightful time of the year, and leave it to God, to pick the most depressing time of the year, to become the greatest time of the year!

Christmas is not about what we see, hear, smell, touch, or even feel. No, Christmas is about the power of love, the ultimate love. Christmas is a reminder that God’s love was so great that it manifested itself on this planet, fully human and fully divine, because of one reason. Because of one simple reason…GOD LOVES YOU!

Merry Christmas!