I love Christmas. I love the lights and tinsel, apple cider and homemade Christmas candies; I love the gift giving – and getting – and I especially love Christmas music and Christmas movies. There is nothing better than listening to Harry Connick Jr.'s "Happy Ho! Ho! Ho! to you!" or Bing Crosby singing – well crooning – "White Christmas".

Yes, I admit I'm a dork. But really, can it get any more romantic than two couples, post-World War II, giving of themselves to take care of retired military officer, who had given so much of himself for his men during the war? Then they open the barn doors to find a white Christmas? And it cannot get any more funny than a young boy forced to dress in a pink bunny suit.

But my favorite Christmas movie of all time is "A Charlie Brown Christmas". The Peanuts gang plus Christmas is a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned.

As many times as I have seen this movie, there is one scene that gets me every time: There stands Charlie Brown surrounded by all the "commercialism" of Christmas, exhausted, frustrated, and let down by everything of the season. In desperation, he shouts, "Isn't there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?"

At this point his thumb-sucking, blanket-holding, theological studying best friend steps up and answers his question by quoting Luke chapter 2:

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone ‘round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'".

Now, I am not naïve enough to think that Jesus was born on December 25, but I do know that this is the time of year that Christians have set aside to celebrate His birth. There are times that we set aside time to celebrate each other - much like having my son’s birthday party on a different day then he was born. I do my best to celebrate and love my kids each and every day, but there are times that we set aside to purposefully, as family and friends, to make that person the star for the day. Christmas is like that for me. I do my best to love, praise, worship and serve my Father on a daily basis; but this time of year we come together to purposefully put Him as the center.

However, there have been times in the middle of all this celebrating when I have found myself in the same place as Charlie Brown: surrounded by the light and tinsel, the "12 Days of Christmas" stuck in my head, exhausted, frustrated, and let down by everything of the season. In those moments I have to remind myself what the book of Luke tells me.

Luke 2:11 tells me: “For unto you this day is born in the City of Bethlehem, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord”. Later in chapter 23, I am told that this baby who was “wrapped in swaddling clothes” was crucified and buried. He was crucified for me, for my sins, so that I could spend eternity with Him and have a relationship with Him while I'm here on Earth. But the story does not end with his crucifixion; if we keep reading the book of Luke chapter 24 verse 6 says, “He is not here; He has risen!" He, Christ, didn't stay in that grave. He is greater than death, hell and the grave.

The thing is, lots of people had been crucified but only one was raised from the dead, and that one is who we celebrate this time of year.

So, like Linus said, “That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!”