The book or cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" is very popular this time of year, and for obvious reasons! Christmas is right around the corner, and all is not well. Insanity is blossoming in all major shopping centers as customers engage in fist fights to claim the rights of the last talking Elmo doll. Families bustle to prepare their homes for company and, just as important, for feasting. Mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, third-cousins-twice-removed, and every other obscure relative search high and low for the single best gift ever. In this great time of festive hullabalo, it's very easy to lose sight of what this season is all about.

At the apex of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", the Grich has a revelation.

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"

*Gasp!* In just one short paragraph, the Grinch has managed to discover something that takes many people lifetimes to come to understand. Presents, food, friends, and family are all important and very enjoyable, but they're not the reason for Christmas.

As the Grinch said, Christmas doesn't come in bright ribbons or colorful wrapping paper. Christmas came in something much greater. Christmas came in Christ and continues to come in Him.

Christ came in a manger, not a cardboard box with devilish twist-ties all along the back. Christ came wrapped in swaddling clothes, not in fancy wrapping paper or ribbons. Christ shared His first Christmas with an Ox, an Ass, and some strange shepherds, along with His mother and father.

It is important and necessary for us all to remember this season that Christ is the reason we celebrate. Take this time of Advent to prepare yourself, heart and soul, for Christ's coming. Enjoy the festivity and the spirit of the season, but enjoy Christ and celebrate for Him above all!