‘Every year at Christmas, James Baxter watches people rip apart his company’s product and throw it away. All the hours of creative design and careful manufacturing are gone in a flash. And he has no regrets. As president of the nation’s largest maker of Christmas gift-wrap, Mr Baxter says, “What we don’t want is our product sitting in somebody’s closet.”’ (OUR DAILY BREAD December 27, 1999).

When we consider gift-wrap, it gives us an interesting perspective on the real meaning of Christmas. When God gave us the gift of His son, He gave Him to be put to death and to be sacrificed for the sins of mankind. God did not intend to give us a pretty package to gaze upon.