Until the age of about 12, most of us would have found this question baffling. More to Christmas? More than the magic of Santa and presents galore and lollies and fizzy drink and fun with the family? Could there possibly be anything more wonderful than this?1
As we grow older, the delights of Christmas lose their shine. We don't believe in Santa, we pay for the presents, the family is fighting, and the lollies and fizzy drink are bad for our health.
And as December arrives with a rush, we find ourselves hoping that there might actually be more to Christmas.
There is.
It's to be found in the man whom we celebrate at Christmas—not Santa Claus, but Jesus of Nazareth, whose birth about 65 generations ago in a little town in Israel started the whole thing off.
We'd like to encourage you to learn more about this Jesus, because he's the real reason for Christmas, and the clue to its meaning. If you want to find out whether there's more to Christmas, you need to find out more about Jesus.
Here are two easy ways for you to do this:
- Download a modern, easy-to-read copy of one of the original accounts of Jesus' life, as told in the Gospel of Luke (323kb; PDF).
You'll find many of the familiar stories of Christmas in this Gospel (the shepherds, the angels, the star, the wise men, and so on), but as you read on, you'll also find out that there's much more to the story. Jesus wasn't born simply to be a cute baby. He came on a mission, and Luke's Gospel explains what that incredible mission was. 
Read a summary of what Jesus was all about.
The summary is called ‘Two ways to live’, and it explains the message of Jesus and Christianity in a simple and down-to-earth way.
1 Mind you, that's assuming that you are browsing this website (like many internet users) from the comfort of a middle-class Western home. Many children in the world have never even heard of Christmas, let alone tasted any of its treats. If you'd like to help some of these children, support Operation Christmas Child.
