I love Christmas. I love the lights, the music, the food, the general festivity of the season. It doesn’t even matter that it is hot and rainy rather than cold and snowy—if you stand under the AC unit it feels about the same.

Every year my LIFE group has a Christmas party, which is one of the highlights of the year. This year was particularly special because we had two members who had never celebrated Christmas in Western fashion before—they had never decorated Christmas cookies or a Christmas tree. It was so fun to see their excitement and enthusiasm about us getting to all do it together as a group.

I think what I liked the best was experiencing the freshness of the Christmas season through their eyes…the newness and excitement. But it was also a good reminder that celebrating Christmas with a tree and cookies, while awesome, is not the only way to celebrate—because ultimately that’s not what the holiday is all about. Christmas is about the savior of the world coming and making himself man to dwell among us and ultimately be a sacrifice on our behalf….the festivities are just extra fun—icing on the cake so to speak.