Finding Christmas When It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas

• By candidasullivan
• December 24, 2025
• No Comments

Are you struggling this Christmas?

I’ve heard so many people say it doesn’t feel like Christmas this year. Some wish it would hurry up and be over already.

I get it. I really do.

In my lifetime, I’ve experienced many versions of Christmas—the broke version, the stressed-beyond-belief version, the sick version, the heartbroken version, and the grateful, joyful version.

Over the years, I’ve learned it all comes down to this: What does Christmas mean to me?

For me, the Christmas spirit is love. If I can find love, I can see and feel Christmas. Jesus was born on Christmas—the greatest gift imaginable. So I choose to make it about love.

Loving others doesn’t cost anything. We can create gifts, write letters, and express love from the depths of our hearts.

I remember one Christmas when my son was small and money was tight. He only had a few presents. But he loved opening them. So I wrapped toys he already had. He giggled with delight as the paper ripped. He didn’t care that they were old—he just loved the joy of the moment.

Sometimes we let the world tell us what things are supposed to mean. But we get to decide.

If you were not here next Christmas, would your family miss the gifts you bought—or your presence?

Sweet friends, we don’t have to let the world define Christmas for us.

For me, it’s the beautiful spirit of God and love in my heart. It’s time with family, our annual sleepover, laughter around the table.

I’m putting my phone away. I’m choosing presence. I’m soaking in every laugh, every story, every bit of joy.

And I’m thanking God for it all.

Gratitude turns what we have into enough.

Merry Christmas.

John 3:16 KJV

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.