A Pussycat's Christmas - Day Twenty-one

What does Christmas mean to you? Credit where it is due – this is a story Rebecca Mize, now Harrell wrote for the Shawnee News star in 1992. Whenever I hear the question asked “What does Christmas mean to you?” I think of  this story.

Christmas: Meanings as different as people

Christmas means different things to different people in the Shawnee community. For some it’s the birth of Jesus, while for others it’s a chance to spend time with family, Most seem to think it’s a time of love and a time of giving.

Although OBU student Cephus Nziramasanga is from Zimbabwe, he said he celebrates Christmas as many others in Shawnee do.

“In my case it’s not very different from many people here because I was raised with a Southern Baptist Background,” he said. “It’s a time of praise for the birth of the Lord Jesus. Also a time for people to get together, a family reunion time.”

Other people mentioned the time with family, too.

“Christmas is not only a much needed break from school, but also allows me to see family,” April Wilkerson, a former intern at the News-Star and OBU student, said. “When I think of Christmas I think of family, Seeing family is more meaningful than opening gifts, to me.”

Nearly half the people surveyed in a Harris Poll conducted Dec. 4-8 said they think of Christmas as more of a family holiday than a religious holiday. However, for the majority Christmas means the birth of Jesus Christ,

Yvonne Hinchee, the public library Shawnee branch manager, summed it up by saying Christmas means, “the birth of the Christ Child and a time to remember all that event signified.”

Christmas means “the birth of Jesus Christ” to Don Britton. OSU Cooperative Extension director.

“That’s the first thing that comes to my mind,” he said. “That’s the reason we have Christmas. I think the good thing about Christmas is it allows us to take extra time to think about Jesus. With our busy lifestyles we tend to forget.”

Kathleen Kinkade, Shawnee resident and Department of Human Services employee, said: “ For me, the meaning of Christmas is love; Love from God given to us in the form of life; Love that allows us to love, and fee, and hurt, and heal, love that makes us wish we could love away the pain and suffering of another, . . . Christmas is the permanent gift of love – the gift of living and feeling. It is the unselfish gift that God gave us when he gave us His Child.”

When first asked what Christmas means to him, Danny Yort of Yort’s Alternator and Starter Works, said, “Well, I don’t know that Christmas means that much to me.”

However, he went on to tell how he helped 38 foster children have Christmas by giving money to a former child welfare worker who had, had open heart surgery, but still wanted to help the children.

“It just means a lot to have somebody go out of their way when they’re not up to it,” he said. “It feels food to help someone helping others.”

Others also seem to feel that Christmas should be a good time for children.

Don Cory, environmental technician with the county health department, said: “I think it’s something special for the children. That’s the enjoyment I get out of is for the children.”

“It’s a special time of year when everybody sets things aside. For one day the world sets things aside and then picks up right where it left off.”

Whatever Christmas means to you, have a merry one.