One of the first lessons the Church wants us to get during Advent is: to bring joy to others this Christmas, we really have to bring them Christ.
Jesus is the greatest gift that we can ever bring to someone we love.
At Christmas we especially need to remember that. We can buy kids all types of clothes and toys, but if we aren't trying to give them the Lord Jesus, then we're really giving them only counterfeit goods. We can send out a thousand cards and letters, but if we're not praying for others that they come to the Lord and trying to help them to encounter Jesus with our meagre words, then, to a large degree, what we're sending is not much better than junk mail. Unless we try to bring Christ to them, we're really not giving them anything truly lasting. At the Visitation, Mary didn't bring Elizabeth ancient Hebrew pregnancy text-books; she wasn't bringing John the Baptist a cute little circumcision outfit; she was bringing Christ and, hence, she was bringing them everything.
