according to the bible, the holy book of christians, god decided to allow his only son, jesus christ, to be born to a human mother and live on earth so that people could understand god better and learn to love god and each other more. "christmas"- meaning "celebration of christ "- honors the time when jesus was born to a young jewish woman mary.
mary was engaged to be married to joseph, a carpenter, but before they came together, she was found to be with child. because joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. but after he had considered this, an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "do not be afraid to take mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the holy spirit. she will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
基督(jesus)是这天生的啊,基督出生在伯利恒(bethlehem) mary是他的妈妈.玛丽娅已和木匠约瑟夫订婚。可是，在他们同居之前，约瑟夫发现玛丽娅已怀孕。因为约瑟夫是个正派的人，又不想把这件事说出去让她丢脸，所以他想悄悄地和她分手。他正在考虑这事时，上帝的天使出现在他的梦中，对他说，“不要嘀咕了，把玛丽娅娶回家。她怀的孩子来自圣灵。她将生下个男孩子，你们给孩子起名叫耶稣，因为他将从罪恶中拯救人们。”
西方人以红、绿、白三色为圣诞色，圣诞节来临时家家户户都要用圣诞色来装饰。红色的有圣诞花和圣诞蜡烛。绿色的是圣诞树。它是圣诞节的主要装饰品，用砍伐来的杉、柏一类呈塔形的常青树装饰而成。上面悬挂着五颜六色的彩灯、礼物和纸花，还点燃着圣诞蜡烛。
红色与白色相映成趣的是圣诞老人，他是圣诞节活动中最受欢迎的人物。西方儿童在圣诞夜临睡之前，要在壁炉前或枕头旁放上一只袜子，等候圣诞老人在他们入睡后把礼物放在袜子内。在西方，扮演圣诞老人也是一种习俗。