What is the Real Meaning of Christmas?

The letter above is from a 3rd grade girl named Jaelyn who is in a gifted class at Higgins Academy in Chicago, IL. In her letter she tells Santa how hard she has worked in school and included what her holiday wish was this year. For Christmas she asked Santa for a Bratz Head so that she can style hair and also books to read. As you can see she is quite the artist and included Christmas trees, candy canes, and ornaments on the border of her letter.

The second letter is from Isaiah who is a 2nd grader in Chicago, IL and he also wrote a letter to Santa regarding his Christmas wish. This year Isaiah asked Santa for a pair of shoes, a hat, and a video game. He also drew a picture for Santa who is saying, "Ho Ho Ho".

When you read letters from children in need such as the ones above, it really puts into perspective the meaning of Christmas. While we all get "wrapped up" this time of year with all of the baking, shopping, decorating, entertaining, gift wrapping, sending Christmas cards, and tree-trimming that takes place this time of year; when you take a step back you start to realize that those "must do's" have nothing to do with the real meaning of Christmas.

This year David and I are helping these families with making their children's Christmas wishes to come true, I only wish we could make a bigger impact on all of the families in need. I think back to how special my parents made Christmas for my brother and I, and I only hope for the same for all of the other children around the world. I realize how naive that wish is and therefore recognize that we each can play a role in making a difference for even 1 child each year. David and I really enjoyed making these wishes come true and now are making this a tradition for our family moving forward. I know that this is a tough time for many families but if you can, please do what you can to help even one family by providing what you can to making the holidays special for them as well.