Christmas has always been one of my favorite holidays. No school, lots of family traditions, and such delicious food. But I think we can all agree that the best thing about Christmas is giving and receiving presents.

There is so much that goes into getting the perfect gift for someone. We spend time thinking about what to get, go out and buy it, wrap it, and then plan out the exact moment the gift will be opened and appreciated. No one gives people gifts thinking or hoping they'll hate it. Instead, we think about the impact the gift will have on the person we give it to.

At the same time, however, we have all received gifts we weren't particularly fond of. From plain old socks to those CDs of random bands no one's ever heard of, we have all pretended to like a gift we knew we would never use. (It's a good thing we can regift and return, am I right?)

All of this is to say that there are presents we receive and forget, but then there are presents that really make an impact on who we are; presents we accept and cherish. The best Christmas present I have ever received was a God-sized present. And ironically enough, it was given to me thousands of years before I was even born.

As told by the Bible, the Christmas story is about God giving humanity a God-sized present. It's about God having the best and giving it to us to either accept and cherish or to regift and return. The Biblical narrative tells us that God loved us so much that sent His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). But the beauty of it is that the present is ours to receive or to forget. It's a present we can use to change our lives or do absolutely nothing with.

So I say "Merry Christmas," because I chose to cherish the God-sized, life-changing present I put at the center of my life. It doesn't get any merrier than that. I celebrate every year because I received the best news I'll ever get: that Jesus was born and that the gift is yours, mine, and ours to accept.