PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE: This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus use an image from my favorite sport, golf. Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as a Congressional press secretary in Washington, D.C., an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and a private sector lobbyist. This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime

In today’s world, it’s easy to get caught up in the trappings of Christmas and forget the real reason for the season.

The real reason?

It’s a season to remember the birth of Christ who came to this world to save us and give us hope for a future beyond what might exist by our own actions.

In our family, my wife has done a great job of starting various Christmas celebrations, which she hoped would become traditions. They did.

• We have usually gathered with our two children, their spouses and their children, our grandkids, for a joyous celebration on Christmas Day, though recently we have adjusted the day to accommodate their other-family schedules. Easy to adjust and keep alive our own family traditions.
• We start by opening stocking presents with the stockings hung over our fireplace, though the presents themselves won’t fit inside them.
• We then move to the breakfast table where we have scrambled eggs, bacon and what has come to be a great tradition for us – rolls soaked in a brown sugar substance that gets better with time. The rolls are heated so they taste nothing but good. Without these rolls, Christmas just wouldn’t be same!
• After breakfast, we take a breath to read the Christmas account in Luke 2, which chronicles Christ’s birth in a lowly stable in Bethlehem. Good to hear this story time after time.

“So it was that while they (Mary and Joseph) were there in Bethlehem, that she came to the end of her time. She gave birth to her first child, a son. And as there was no place for them inside the inn, she wrapped him up and laid him in a manger.”

• Then, after hearing the Luke 2 story, we open presents — and try to do so, one-by-one, so we see what everyone gets. This “one-by-one” premise was started after my father, now gone for a number of years, would open his presents surreptitiously and early in an attempt to get a head start on the process.

So, whatever your traditions, I hope you pause to enjoy them at this time of year. Don’t hurry through Christmas. Pause. Reflect. Express thanks for the Savior who came to the earth to rescue us, the true meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!