The pace of life in the Valley, as we head into the home stretch to Christmas, is almost palpably intensified.

Six more shopping days 'til Christmas. It's more than a slogan. It's almost like a clock ticking more loudly with each passing hour, reminding us of how much we have to do, and how little time there is left in which to do it.

There is a great general sense of increased intensity as we scurry about, balancing the rigors and demands of daily existence with the added responsibilities of the season. While we continue to hope that residents will think of “remaining shopping days” as remaining opportunities to support local merchants and, by extension, their community, it is hard to not be a bit saddened by the annual commercialization of Christmas. These pages in recent days have been the forum for an impassioned debate about the relative merits of the greetings “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Christmas.” An individual preference for the more generic greeting, however, is hardly the only way to “take Christ out of Christmas.” Perhaps the biggest one is to get caught up in the emphasis on spending money at this time of year.

Gift-giving can be a very satisfying part of the Christmas season. And it does have a direct correlation to the scriptural story of the first Christmas. According to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, the baby Jesus was presented gifts by three kings visiting “from the East.”

But Christmas, in its purest, most meaningful sense, still exists outside the bounds of gift-giving. Remembering “the reason for the season” means, as we rush from store to store filling out our Christmas gift lists, or bask in the satisfaction of finding “the perfect gift,” that we not forget the greatest and most lasting gift of all - the gift of love and, ultimately, salvation that was born into the humblest of surroundings that first Christmas.

Any day of the year brings potential for frustration, self-pity, sorrow or hostility. In the days that comprise the week before Christmas, that potential is amplified. All who find themselves feeling overwhelmed or beat up in the next few days should pause to remember the hope that is the essence of Christmas and the glorious gift that was given to each of us that long-ago night in Bethlehem.

The old carol “Love Came down at Christmas,” written by Christina Georgina Rossetti in 1885, sums up that gift, in simple but powerful terms:

Love came down at Christmas, love all lovely, love divine;

love was born at Christmas: star and angels gave the sign.

Love shall be our token; love be yours and love be mine,

Love to God and to all men, love for plea and gift and sign.