It's the largest celebration around the world each year. Other holidays get a single day, but Christmas is emphasized for an entire month, one 12th of every year. During the Christmas season, billions of people set aside their normal routines to decorate their homes, send out cards, buy gifts, go to Christmas parties, attend church services and travel long distances to be with their families.

If you stop to think about it, it is astounding that the simple, unassuming birth of a peasant boy 2,000 years ago in the Middle East has caused such commotion. You may have never realized that every time you check your calendar or refer to a date, you are using Jesus Christ as your reference point. Every other event in history and every event on your calendar today is dated by how many days and years it has been since Jesus Christ appeared on earth. Even your birthday is dated by His birthday.

The night Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, a small group of poor shepherds were quietly tending their sheep. Looking up at the stars, nothing seemed any different from a thousand other nights. But what was about to happen would transform not only their lives but billions of other lives as well. The world would never be the same.

Expensive, Priceless, Forever
There are many reasons you might feel uneasy or lonely or even depressed during the Christmas season. Maybe relationships are strained and uncomfortable in your family. Maybe you don't have anyone to be with this Christmas. Maybe you're just exhausted and worn out from all that's happened in your life this past year.

Regardless of your background, problems or circumstances, Christmas really is the best news you will ever get. Beneath all the visible sights and sounds of Christmas are some simple yet profound truths that can transform your life for the better here on earth and forever in eternity.

If you'll slow down for a few minutes and pause to consider the purpose of Christmas, you can receive and enjoy the best Christmas gift you'll ever be given. It is God's Christmas gift to you.

It has three qualities that make it unique. First, it is the most expensive gift you'll ever receive. It's priceless. Jesus paid for it with His life. Second, it's the only gift you'll ever receive that will last forever. Finally, it is an extremely practical gift, one you'll use every day for the rest of your life.

It is astounding that so many people celebrate Christmas every year without ever opening their greatest and most expensive Christmas gift.

Birthday Party
My sister recently found a picture of me as a three-year-old, standing next to a birthday cake for Jesus, complete with candles. The cake was my idea. As a toddler, I asked my mother, “Why do we have Christmas?” My mom patiently explained that Christmas is a celebration of Jesus' birthday. In a burst of preschooler inspiration, I concluded with a child's logic, “Well then, we should have a birthday party! We can have cake and Kool-Aid and sing happy birthday to Jesus!”

This began a five-decade family tradition, our birthday party for Jesus every Christmas Eve, complete with angel food cake and candles that the youngest child (and now grandchild) gets to blow out. Four generations now participate in the sharing.

Besides singing carols and reading the Christmas story from the Bible, each family member takes a turn answering two questions: “What, from this past year, are you thankful to God for?” and, “Since it's Jesus' birthday, what gift will you give Him this next year?” These two simple questions have prompted some of the most profound and moving moments in our family's history. No matter what you are going through this Christmas, try celebrating the real thing. It will make a difference.

The Best Gift
It is no accident that you are reading this. God planned your birth, and before you were even born, He knew this moment was coming. In fact, it may be that all your whole life up to this moment has been preparing you to receive God's Christmas gift to you. In Jesus, your past is forgiven, you get a purpose for living and you get a home in Heaven. No one else can make that kind of offer. Only God can. Why celebrate Christmas if you're not going to open the best gift of all?

Reprinted with the permission of Howard Books, a Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from The Purpose of Christmas by Rick Warren. Copyright © Rick Warren