The Gift of Christmas

I love this time of year, where you can truly reflect on things that are personally important to yourself and your life. I hate the commercialized aspects of the holidays, but being in the marketing business, I also get the need to constantly promote your brand or product to entice and convince people that they can't live without your product or service. Lots of peoples' livelihood rely on the marketing and advertising business in this country and across the globe.

We had the opportunity to go to a religious themed holiday concert last night, as well as a devotional given by the first presidency of the LDS church. No Jingle Bells, or Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Just traditional, spiritually focused Christmas hymns and performances. Both venues, combined into one fabulous evening, really left me energized about the approaching Christmas celebration. Not a celebration of gift giving or receiving, or a celebration of what we are doing for the community, non-profit organizations, office white elephant exchanges or troops overseas. But a celebration of the humble birth of Jesus Christ. The circumstances surrounding his coming into this world, and the events leading up to that long for told event. An individual, whom I dearly believe, is the son of God, the Savior of this world, and Redeemer to anyone and everyone who will ever live. An individual whom if we look to for ultimate example, truly does help us live a better life.

Being politically correct all the time during the holiday season to ensure that one does not offend other beliefs is fine. In a world of increasing chaos, we can all do our part to be more accepting of others, and more willing to be well rounded and well versed in other peoples viewpoints to a certain point. I'm excited to celebrate Christmas, the way I want, with who I want. The magic of this time of year, truly does have the heart of men thinking about more than themselves. I love Christmas. I love what it does for family and people. I love what it does for our various communities. But most importantly, I love that those in the world who want to, can unite and focus on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.