Christmas is coming closer and closer and people are getting ready for the season to create a festive atmosphere in materialistic and spiritual ways as given here: (a). Everyone starts by cleaning every nook and corner of the house to get the house ready for guests. (b). Many people go shopping to buy new clothes, footwear and to purchase ingredients to prepare savouring sweets and drinks to keep the spirits high to forget worries. (c). Decoration begins with Christmas tree; putting up festive lights all around the house; and continuing with other traditions that have developed around Christmas like the Mistletoe which was a symbol of love and friendship in Norse mythology and the Snowman a popular theme for the season. Some people also decorate the exterior of their homes with lights to fill the air with joy.
In order to prepare the Crib, the young and the old reflect on the Biblical passages relating to the birth of Jesus to help them to understand it better while preparing the Crib on the first Christmas dark night where the shepherds were out in the field keeping watch over their flock. An angel appeared and told them that Christ was born. They also saw a multitude of heavenly host praising God. They went with haste and found exactly what the angel told them. Christ’s guests, for company, were cattle and shepherds and wise men from the east who saw his star and came to worship him.
Jesus Christ was a king, but born in poverty. His birth went unnoticed by the vast majority of the world on that first Christmas night. His birthplace at Bethlehem, was an obscure hilly country. His earthly father was a carpenter and a modest maiden was his mother. He was born in a lowly stable and his bed was a manger meant to feed the cattle. These were the humble beginnings that the Son of God was born with.
Nowadays, this crib is decorated with the ancient times Christmas theme. The old and the young, with every effort, join in making the best crib. It is beautified with verdant landscapes. Mountains are created using thick brown paper. A small well and green coloured sand is used to depict vegetation and small artificial trees. Cotton is used to depict snow. However, the Crib varies in different houses according to the ideas or artistic inclinations of those making them.
Spiritual preparations before Christmas often focus on prayers and meditation. As it is a season of giving, many engage in acts of charity like donating to charitable causes, or simply performing small acts of kindness for others, as a way of preparing spiritually. But a person who is doing exhibition of his charity is not doing charity; he is only buying fame. If one feels good, happy, satisfied after the act of charity, it means that the act was done for one’s own self. Charity should be done and forgotten.
Xmas inspires us to change our wrong ways and make a new beginning. But it is said: “Actions are changed by our hearts, our hearts are changed by our minds; and our minds are changed by prayers.” We cannot change the past, but we can ruin a perfectly good present by worrying about the future. So, if one wants to change, one has to make an effort for improvement.
