[originally posted 12/15/09]

One of our local radio stations is playing “all Christmas, all the time” this month. It is an oldies station but now anything remotely to do with this holiday season is on the playlist. I’ve discovered that there have been some pretty odd and awful songs recorded about Christmas.

To verify that for yourself, you only need to do an Internet search on the the Top 10 Worst Christmas Songs.

Driving to work one day, I heard the song, Christmas Just Ain’t Christmas Without the One You Love, a county/western take on the usual Christmas romance theme. It wasn’t as bad as some I’d been hearing on my commute and the tune was catchy. It stuck with me as I settled in at my desk and I began to think how true that phrase really is.

Christmas without the love of Jesus, without knowing who he was and is, without understanding the promise of his birth that we celebrate on this day, really isn’t Christmas.

No amount of gifts, decorations, holiday romances or sentimental songs can take his place.

Christmas just wouldn’t be Christmas without the one I love.

Thank God that he’s always here, right in the center.