Many children all over the world grow up celebrating Christmas, but many of the children celebrating Christmas have no idea why they celebrate it. Today in the United States, many children become very selfish as Christmas goes by every year. Children are spoiled, and shown that they should be showered with presents every year at Christmas time. Selfishness spreads to kids as time goes on with new toy commercials and more cheap plastic goods being sold everywhere. Kids don’t even care why they get presents; they just want them. One day, I went up to my good friend’s brother and asked,” What is the real meaning of Christmas.” My friend’s brother said,” Well, we get a lot of presents, and Santa comes. Is this what is happening to our youth? Is our country becoming dependant on cheap foreign made goods so that our youth can just throw them away after about a few seconds of play? Because of our ways, our youth will never understand how to be thankful for what they have. Christmas is a Christian holiday, and many people have also been trying to take Christ out of it. It is because of Jesus Christ that we have Christmas. Christmas is the day the Virgin Mary birthed a son, Jesus Christ. It was a beautiful day when angles sang from above and God smiled up in heaven. Giving gifts is inspired by another story, the story of Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was a simple boy who one day noticed that a man’s 3 daughters could not get married because they didn’t have enough money. Saint Nicholas saw this happening and decided to help. Late at night, he dropped 3 bags of gold down the family’s chimney. Nicholas was modest, and didn’t want to get a lot of praise for his good deed. When the family awoke the next morning, they thanked God for the wonderful gift he had given them. This is how Santa was invented. Today, many people leave all of these stories out of Christmas. Many employees at different stores and restaurants have to say Merry Xmas or Happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas because many people take it offensively. My opinion about Christmas is that Christians have the right to have their religion respected. The United States was founded because of religion, and I think that our religions should all be a major part of our lives. You don’t have to celebrate Christmas, but if you do, respect the true holiday, and not the lies that have been created because of the large hate for Christians. We all have different points of view when it comes to religion, and all of our opinions should be respected. If a Muslim Mosque is allowed to be built on ground zero; then why is Christ coming out of the Christian holiday of Christmas? Also, many other holidays are being eliminated from our communities. There is one school in Massachusetts that cannot say Easter eggs anymore. They have to say spring spheres. You may be thinking that the thought of that is crazy. Why would anyone do that? Well, think again. Many people would. Easter is also a very Christian holiday, because, this is the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Kids just can’t get enough gifts, because now on Easter, kids expect to get an Easter basket full of cheap plastic goods and candy. There was also a figure created for this holiday called The Easter Bunny. This is a “magical” figure that goes around to every girl and boy and the world and gives them treats on Easter. Many people are also trying to cut Christ out of Easter. If you are not Christian, you have no right to try to get other Christians to stop celebrating their holiday. Even if you don’t celebrate it, that doesn’t give you the right to make fun of someone else’s religion. Another Christian holiday you may be surprised about is Halloween. Yes, Halloween. This night full of ghosts and goblins is a Catholic holiday. Long ago, kids would dress up as saints, instead of the devils, ghosts, and ghouls that they dress up as today. November first is all Saints Day, a holiday celebrating all of the Christian saints. Today, people are trying to have people not celebrate Halloween too. It’s almost as though people don’t care about anyone else but themselves. As I said before, even if you are not Christian, you have no right to get rid of a Christian holiday that has been celebrated for thousands of years. You don’t have to celebrate the holiday. Just because you may not like the holiday, you cannot force others to too. Kids of all ages forget how lucky they are. They forget how lucky they are to get Easter and Christmas gifts. Many kids in other countries don’t get the religious freedoms that we get. As time goes on, I feel that our religious freedom slowly decreases. Our lives and the world become very different as time goes on. Whenever you celebrate Christmas, Easter, Halloween, or any other holiday for instance, think of the true meaning of that holiday. Think of others and how you can make them happy and God happy. Whatever country you come from and whatever religion you are, you have the power. You have the power to create your future, so make sure that your future is a bright and happy one. Respect not only your religion, but all religions too. You are the creator, so create.