For many people Christmas is filled with dread instead of delight.

Author Jon Walker writes this: ‘I’m sitting in a fast-food restaurant observing a young girl celebrating an early Christmas with her mother. Her presents are spread out across the booth and she just said, “I miss you, Mommy.” “I miss you too, Baby,” her mother says. Beyond the booth… a woman casually, but carefully watches them. Using my journalist’s eye, I put it all together. The watching woman is a social worker supervising a structured visit for a mother and child who are doing their best to celebrate Christmas… a few minutes later foster parents arrive and take the little girl home. The mother leaves alone. There’s a darker side to Christmas we rarely acknowledge. We create this fantasy that seldom matches reality… many Christmas memories are full of tension, not tinsel… the holidays are just another excuse for Mommy to get drunk, or Daddy to be with his new family… yet another reminder that the one we love is far away or perhaps never coming back… The suicide rate is extraordinarily high… depression as common as “Joy to the World”… more people hurt at Christmas than we initially imagine. For those tired of the hollow hope… the good news is God is with us. Jesus came to earth to “bring… good news… for all the people.” Regardless of your situation, Christmas is the best gift you’ll ever get, because:

(1) it’s the costliest you’ll ever receive because it cost Jesus His life;

(2) it’s the only gift that lasts forever;

(3) it’s one you can enjoy for the rest of your life.’