BYUH students say focusing on Jesus Christ and less on gifts increases the quality of their Christmas celebrations
Christmas holds a profound significance worldwide, but it takes on added meaning for students at BYU–Hawaii who find themselves celebrating far from their home countries. They shared Christmas away from home enables them to center their focus on Jesus Christ, who is the true reason for the season.
Shannel Paningbatan, a senior double majoring in psychology and social work from the Philippines, said her most memorable Christmas was when she was young and her parents were still together. She said her parents’ families gathered together and had a huge feast where she played with her cousins. “The whole family was there. We had a lot of fun and a lot of food. I really miss [that time],” she said. She said after her parents’ separation,she sometimes would not even celebrate Christmas.
Paningbatan’s husband, Jarom Perandos, an alumnus from the Philippines, said his love for Christmas comes from how it brings families together. “With families living on different continents, we could only meet up together for Christmas every five years or so,” he said. Paningbatan and Perandos both said Christmas has been difficult for them since moving to Hawaii for school. Paningbatan said last Christmas, they gathered with some friends and shared food together. It was most memorable as they shared their personal experiences of seeing Christ in their lives throughout the year, she said.
Since then, Paningbatan said they made a resolution to focus their Christmas celebrations on Jesus Christ more instead of just putting up decorations. “We decided to focus on Jesus Christ throughout the Christmas season and not just on Christmas Day,” Perandos said. He added attending the temple, putting up more pictures of Christ in their home and ministering to others around them has made their home more Christ-centered as they celebrate throughout the Christmas season. He said, “We hang up more images of Christ on our Christmas tree and have more pictures of us with a temple in the background.”
Paningbatan said, “It is not about the gifts because I cannot remember every gift I get. But I always remember the happiness I felt from being together as a family and that is something I want my own little family to cherish.” She said having their first baby over the summer gave them a greater perspective on life as they became parents. Working on Christlike attributes like faith, patience and charity helped them focus more on Christ and helped them be better parents, she said.
Dannisha Pili, a freshman majoring in anthropology from Utah, said her mom always made sure Jesus Christ was a central part of Christmas by having their family watch movies about Christ throughout the weeks prior to Christmas Day.
“Our family used to have a little movie about Christ’s birth every year that we used to watch throughout December. When the Church came out with ‘The Christ Child,’ it became our family Christmas movie,” she said. She added Christmas is a great time to be with family and eat good food.
Pili shared her favorite thing to do during Christmas is collect nativity displays to remind her of the reason for the season. She added her family loves music and their favorite Christmas hymn is “Angels We Have Heard on High” because of its beautiful melody and lyrics that remind them of Jesus Christ, she said.
Pili said in conversations, activities and music, her family strives to integrate Christ’s teachings and His life into it, and her mother always gets them gifts that help them remember Christ. “We would read the scriptures or a story about Christ’s birth from the Bible and then watch a video about it so the younger kids will understand better,” Pili said. She shared they remember why Christ is celebrated at Christmas through her mother’s influence in helping them understand the true meaning of it through books, visual aids and family activities.