Speaker 1: When you're ready to double down, dive in, try for
Speaker 1: a show, and not look back. Roll into Pearl River.
Speaker 1: Resume from tea times to table games, water slides by day,
Speaker 1: slots by night. Savor the flavors, feel the food. Win big.
Speaker 1: Let's roll into Pearl River Resort. Must be twenty one
Speaker 1: or older to play gambling problem called one hunter Gimbler.
Speaker 1: December is here, which means the Christmas season is upon
Speaker 1: us and it is that time of a year where
Speaker 1: people were rushing out to try to get the perfect
Speaker 1: gift for one another. It actually started on Friday, of course,
Speaker 1: known as Black Friday, where people are rushing out to
Speaker 1: get the best shopping deals they can possibly find. But
Speaker 1: the reality is we should try to change our focus
Speaker 1: a little bit and maybe not obsessed so much over
Speaker 1: getting gift giving. Sure, it feels good to give a gift,
Speaker 1: and who doesn't love receiving a good gift. I'm not
Speaker 1: knocking any of that, and that is very much part
Speaker 1: of the Christmas season. But the big thing that I
Speaker 1: think we are lost, that we have lost, is we've
Speaker 1: gotten away from remembering the actual reason for the season.
Speaker 1: Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, our
Speaker 1: Lord and Savior. But we don't focus on that the
Speaker 1: way that we should. There are probably several people that
Speaker 1: don't understand what Christmas truly is anymore. Parents on all
Speaker 1: of us who are believers, to remind folks of what
Speaker 1: the Christmas season is all about. I'm not saying don't
Speaker 1: get your loved ones gifts, don't accept gifts. No, I'm
Speaker 1: not saying any of that. I'm not telling you to
Speaker 1: not have a big, lavish meal with your family on
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. I'm just trying to hear. As we're getting
Speaker 1: started into the early portion of the Christmas season, I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to remind people that the gifts aren't what
Speaker 1: this is about. If you get something that you think
Speaker 1: feels a little cheap, maybe just accept it that that
Speaker 1: was all that that person could afford for you and
Speaker 1: it's their way of showing you a little bit of love.
Speaker 1: If you give something that is extravagant and you don't
Speaker 1: get the response that you want, maybe maybe I understand
Speaker 1: that it's just your gift. You didn't have to go
Speaker 1: to that extreme, and maybe the person you gave it
Speaker 1: to feels bad because you did, and maybe they couldn't
Speaker 1: go as extreme as you did. Again, people, Christmas, we
Speaker 1: put so much pressure on ourselves. Nowadays, we look up
Speaker 1: and we look at our bank accounts. At the end
Speaker 1: of it, we understand that we have spent a large,
Speaker 1: smart part of our money just on these gifts, and
Speaker 1: these are just material things when we should be making
Speaker 1: a point to sit down with our family and talk
Speaker 1: about the real reason for Christmas. Growing up my family, Christmas, yes,
Speaker 1: we usually got great Santa Claus gifts, got great gifts
Speaker 1: from grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles. I mean, Christmas was a
Speaker 1: magical time as a kid. But one thing my father
Speaker 1: always did, one of those things that really helped us
Speaker 1: understand that this isn't just about the gifts. He always,
Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve wanted to sit us down in the
Speaker 1: living room before we went to bed and read the
Speaker 1: Christmas Story. Now, I don't remember when this stopped happening.
Speaker 1: I know it did, but I remember those formative years
Speaker 1: sitting down there in the couch in our living room
Speaker 1: and Dad picking up and it was a big Bible.
Speaker 1: I mean, it wasn't just a small little bible. It
Speaker 1: was this big Bible that he would read from. I
Speaker 1: mean when the Bible you took to church. It's one
Speaker 1: that stayed right there in our living room on a mantle,
Speaker 1: right over there to the side. He would pick that
Speaker 1: big Bible up, he would crack it open, and he'd
Speaker 1: go to the park where we talk about the Christmas story.
Speaker 1: He would skip around, of course, because there would be
Speaker 1: some years where he'd do he'd read us Luke one
Speaker 1: twenty six through thirty eight, where the angel Gabriel announces
Speaker 1: to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus. Other years,
Speaker 1: why he would do some of these hodgepodges. Maybe he'd
Speaker 1: leave that out and he'd start it Luke two one
Speaker 1: to twenty, the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. That
Speaker 1: part usually was always a part of it. But I
Speaker 1: do remember the years where he would jump around from
Speaker 1: different parts of the Bible, different parts of the story
Speaker 1: to tell us different things. Of course, there was Matthew
Speaker 1: one eighteen through twenty five, which gives you Joseph's perspective
Speaker 1: on Mary's pregnancy and an angel's instruction to name the
Speaker 1: child Jesus. There was so much that he would put
Speaker 1: into it, and like I said, it felt different every year,
Speaker 1: at least from the perspective of a child, and it
Speaker 1: became something that we look forward to. That's why I
Speaker 1: hate that. I can't remember when it stopped, or I'm
Speaker 1: sure it stopped because we got older and less interested
Speaker 1: in hearing the story that we had already heard. And
Speaker 1: that's sad when you think about it, because we really
Speaker 1: should have been wanting to hear that story as many
Speaker 1: times as anybody's willing to read us that story this Christmas.
Speaker 1: If you have kids, sure do Santa make them feel special,
Speaker 1: but maybe take a page from my father. I don't
Speaker 1: know if you have a supersized large Bible that is
Speaker 1: always in your living room like my parents had, but
Speaker 1: sit them down, open up to those chapters, make them
Speaker 1: understand this isn't about what they're getting. This is about
Speaker 1: the birth of their Lord and Savior and that's what
Speaker 1: they need to be celebrating. And if you do that,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe they'll understand the true magic of the Christmas season.
Speaker 1: This has been Morning Coffee with the Right Side and
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jack Fairchilds and we're a part of
Speaker 1: the Midnight Ride Network. This show has been brought to
Speaker 1: you by Pearl River Casino and Resort,