Christmas and the Empty Chair

It could be that I am counting wrong, this is the third Christmas without my departed wife. She died in September 2023, so that year was the first, 2024 was the second, now it is 2025. (My doubts are because I do not remember some things.) I look at her chair and picture her watching 1951's Scrooge with me.

We see the empty chairs where friends and family members gathered with us, feeling pangs of loss. But Christmas is not just about family, gifts, and things. Secular ideas tend to drown out the true meaning.

Unoccupied place setting, Unsplash / Mark Chan

The purpose, despite the multitudinous add-ons, is to observe the birth of Jesus. He is God the Son, the Creator of the universe — and us. (Although God the Son has existed eternally, it is fitting to celebrate the birthday of the man Jesus, Phil. 2:7, Rev. 22:16.) Although I had some tears while writing this post, I have to do what all of us should do: Focus on Jesus. Christmas actually reminds us that he came to die for us and was bodily raised from the dead. Those of us in Christ will be with those who have gone before in Heaven.

Families across the Christian world are gathering for Christmas even now, with caravans of cars and planeloads of passengers headed to hearth and home. Christmas comes once again, filled with the joy, expectation, and sentiment of the season. It is a time for children, who fill homes with energy, excitement, and sheer joy. And it is a time for the aged, who cherish Christmas memories drawn from decades of Christmas celebrations. Even in an age of mobility, families do their best to gather as extended clans, drawn by the call of Christmas.

Read the rest of this comforting and insightful article at "'And Them that Mourn' — Celebrating Christmas in the Face of Sorrow."