Beginning on the very first Christmas with the birth of Christ more than 2,000 years ago, the season has always been a time of many events being celebrated for the first time. According to biblical accounts of the birth of Christ, the wise men, all of the heavenly hosts, angels, and of course, the family of Jesus celebrated the blessed event of the first appearance of the holy child of God. And so, the celebration of firsts continues today in many ways during the Christmas season.

One of these continues to be the celebrations of families on the first Christmas after a new baby comes into a family through birth or adoption. We recognize the new additions to families by dressing the babies in bright and festive clothing with pictures of Santa Claus, reindeer, Christmas trees or perhaps other symbols of the Christmas season. Then, to make sure we capture these precious events for future memories, we take countless pictures of the new addition and share these far and wide through every available outlet including modern methods of sharing such as Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and other forms of social media. We place the pictures on family Christmas cards and send them out with family, friends and loved ones.

We continue the celebration by having a special ornament made with the new baby’s name on it along with the inscription First Christmas and a date to indicate the year. These new ornaments become a part of the family history and are included each and every year as a part of the tree decorations for many years to come.

Some family friends recently experienced one of these new additions to their family by adopting another child. They posted pictures of the new baby for all to see while being held by the new parents, siblings and of course, the grandparents. The smiles on all the faces told the whole world how this new addition to the family would be celebrated during this Christmas season. As an adoptive parent myself, I can feel their joy as they celebrate the newest family member.

Along with celebration of new family additions by birth or adoption is another one that is just as important and is in fact, the manner by which families continue to prosper and expand. This celebration of a first Christmas is when one of the family members gets married during a year and the new spouse becomes a part of the family to which he or she has been joined through matrimony. During the first Christmas after a person enters a family through marriage, they begin the process of understanding how their new family celebrates the Christmas season. They begin to experience the traditions of their new families and share with the new families the traditions of how their birth families celebrate the season.

Gradually over the years, as these marriages produce children of their own, they develop their own traditions of celebrating Christmas. These may incorporate elements from both the families from which the partners come, or they may begin entirely new traditions that are developed based on their own interests, likes, or life circumstances. Either way, these family units begin their own celebrations of firsts during the Christmas season.

In my family, one of our traditions is decorating the house, tree, and outside of my home on the day after Thanksgiving each year. I do not remember exactly how long we have been doing this traditional day of decorating, but it has been going on since our oldest child was a baby. This tradition now has many of the older grandchildren joining in the process of helping to decorate the home and outside each year while the younger grandchildren watch the process in wide-eyed wonder and amazement in anticipation of Santa coming soon.

This day of decoration has evolved over the years to a much more intense activity with the addition each year of more and more stuff to be put out on display. At one time, we had over 150 Santa Claus figures and over 100 snowmen of various types that we put out each year. This is in addition to the other Christmas displays including a beautiful nativity scene that has a special place in our living room every year. Thankfully over the last couple of years, I have begun to downsize a little and have been giving some of the decorations to my children and their families for them to take to their homes and use for building their own traditions.

Another of the most wonderful and joyous firsts of any Christmas season is the opening of the gifts. Who can ever forget when they got that special gift under the tree or from Santa? I still remember vividly the morning I got my first BB gun at the age of 7 under the Christmas tree from Santa and going immediately out onto the back porch and shooting the gun towards the grape vine arbor that was located in our back yard. For me now, watching the grandchildren open gifts has long replaced the joy I felt when opening my own presents. I love to see the sparkle in their eyes, hear the excitement in their voices and see the joy in them as they show the gifts to those close by when opening the presents.

While these and many other firsts of the Christmas season are happy events, there are some other firsts that are not joyous at all. I include this only because life is indeed a journey along a road with both happiness and sadness. While the happy times are easy to write about, the sad times are much more difficult to share.

Among the most difficult of firsts during the Christmas season is that first Christmas when people we love dearly are no longer present with us. These absences of being there can be brought about by many different circumstances.

For example, people that we love dearly may be living away from the home area that prevents them from being able to come home for Christmas because of a job or perhaps, a loved one is in the military and stationed far away from home or overseas in another country. My heart goes out each and every year to those people who are deployed overseas and send their greetings home via short video chats on television to their loved ones.  The very worst of these has to be parents who are missing being with their children and spouses while deployed. But, because of the service of these many thousands of individuals, you and I get to enjoy the freedoms of living in our great nation while celebrating the Christmas season.

Just this past Sunday, I heard one of these stories about a young man serving his country and being away from home for the first time. In Sunday school, the father of the young man shared with us that his son had left home that very morning headed to his new assignment overseas to Europe and possibly the war zones in Afghanistan or Iraq.  As he shared this with the class, I could hear the sadness and concern in his voice as he stated this would be the first time that his sone would not be with the family at Christmas since he had been born. We said a prayer for him and spoke words of encouragement to the man but knowing that his heart was breaking because of this life event.

Without doubt, the saddest first of any Christmas is the one after the passing away of a loved one. While Christmas is a time for joy for most people, the first holiday season after the death of a spouse, parent, child, other family member, or close friend, can be one of many periods of sadness and sorrow. Our minds take us back to much happier times of celebration with these loved ones and cause our hearts to long for them to be present with us once again though we know this is not possible. With the passage of time and years, these painful moments become easier to bear though the memories of our loved ones remain with us forever.

But, even in these moments of sadness and sorrow, we can learn to celebrate because of the gift to the world on that first Christmas long ago. For as believers, we know the birth of Christ on that first Christmas provides a way for all of us to be together again someday. On that Holy Night of long ago, God made a way for all humanity to receive the ultimate gift of eternal life.

So, in closing, I hope all of you have many happy and glorious firsts during this Christmas season of 2019. I hope your first present is just what you wanted. I hope you get to see the joy and happiness in a child’s face as they open presents and proudly show them to you and others. I hope the first time being with your family after a long trip home is wonderful. I hope you get to hug your loved ones and hold them tightly as you embrace on that first time together. I hope you get to eat a delicious Christmas meal with family and friends. I hope you can regain some joy even if you lost a loved one during the previous year by recalling precious memories of them and knowing you will see them again someday.

Merry Christmas!  Hope all of your have a great Christmas season with many wonderful firsts.