An Encouraging Word- Maybe Christmas Means A Little Bit More (December 7, 2025)

An Encouraging Word
​Maybe Christmas Means A Little Bit More
December 7, 2025

I’m afraid to admit it out loud because I know that people will throw a fit….but here it is. For many years I did  not like Christmas. Not one part of it. I hated the presents, and the decorations, and the music, and the hustle and bustle of it all. I am not sure when I started to feel that way. I was not like that as a child.  I usually looked forward to it. I was not like that when my kids were little.  I think it was just all of the extreme busy-ness of school the three weeks of December. Programs, field trips, community events, parties, dinners. Sometimes it feels like a bit of an overload. I am usually completely wiped out by the time the last day of school in December arrives…like crawling out of the door bone tired. If you ever want to see a person just hanging on by a thread, step into a school classroom in December or May. That thousand yard stare every teacher has is the real deal- students with scrambled schedules and holiday excitement is hard to contain for long, especially those three long weeks between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break. 
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I think the other thing that I have found, particularly since my kids have grown up,  is the let down that the holidays bring to me.  I have expectations of what a holiday with my family will be like, but I have come to understand that they also have expectations and schedules and plans with their friends and spouses too.  Also being in a divorced family means split holiday time and times when one parent is probably going to spend the holidays alone. It’s tough and sometimes it is really lonely and hurts my heart. This year at Thanksgiving I had a long , long talk with myself about that, about realistic expectations for holidays, and about other ways that I can enjoy the holidays too.


In the book How the Grinch Stole Christmas , the Grinch was really angry about how the Whos celebrated Christmas with singing, dinners, decorating, and joy. He hated it so much that he decided to take all of that from everyone else. He spent the whole night taking everything from them that would make them happy. The best part of the book is when he hears them still singing the next morning. At this point his little heart grows three sizes that day and he realizes the famous lines from the book, “Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from the store…maybe Christmas means a little bit more…”.  The remarkable thing is that his heart is changed and he decides to give the joy of Christmas back to the Whos.  He returns everything that he took from them- their presents, their dinners, their decorations. They accept him just as he is and the book ends with the Grinch, of all people, taking part in the holiday meal with the Whos, accepted as a part of their celebrations and loved.


I don’t want to be like the Grinch and be grumpy through the holidays or even unappreciative of those that put tremendous efforts into making them wonderful for others.  About six years ago, I was able to attend Christmas Eve service at my church with my youngest son. At the last minute we were asked to fill in for a family that could not be there to read Scripture and light the Christ candle for Advent. I was sad that my older two kids could not attend, but it was special to spend it with my youngest son. The Scriptures we had to read were ones that I love deeply and ones that I was meant to hear. As I read the words I could feel them sinking into my soul, filling in the hurt places that seem to be exposed again during the holidays. I guess you could say that my old Grinchy heart grew three sizes that day hearing those beautiful words of the Bible. I would like to share them with you too.


John 1: 9-13
” The true light that gives light to everyone is coming into the world.  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”. 


1 Corinthians 13:1-8
” And now I will show you a more excellent way.  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails”.


Christmas does not have to be just presents and parties and busy-ness. Christmas is about love, redemption, and forgiveness. It is all the things that Christ represents. It has always been about these things. Think back to that little baby lying in the animal manger so long ago. Did Mary know that her little one would one day die for the sins of all humanity?  Of course Mary knew! The angel told her and Joseph that this child would be called Jesus- the one that would save his people from their sins.  They both knew the Scriptures. They both knew the prophecies. Yet they chose to love this special gift of God, this child that was brought into their lives in a way that most would never and still cannot understand. Love, redemption, and forgiveness was what was in that Christmas story of so long ago. These are the things that made the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes in one day in Dr. Seuss’s story.   Love, redemption, and forgiveness- the greatest forces in the world, also the three hardest things to accept in our lives. The three things that have been so freely offered to each of us. That’s what Christmas is. That is what Jesus is- Emmanuel- God with us. Emmanuel- Love, Redemption, Forgiveness with us.


That is the long talk God and I had at Thanksgiving this year.  I had to spend a day alone, shed some tears, pour my heart out to God about some real burdens. Hard truth- we cannot put our happiness in what other people can give to us. Not our children, family, spouse, job, friends. We can only put our happiness in what God gives us , and being in a right place with him. Nothing else will bring us peace. Nothing.

Songs to Encourage You:
Adore (Chris Tomlin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LQCz7y5Ht0&list=RD5LQCz7y5Ht0&start_radio=1

The Moment The Whole World Changed (Danny Gokey)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk7MKGLEaZ0&list=RDFk7MKGLEaZ0&start_radio=1


Please know that you are loved beyond measure! You are redeemed and forgiven by your Savior! Let God grow your heart three sizes and let people into your life to love you too. Merry Christmas from me to you!
Melissa Boggs
Christian Life Academy 

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