No doubt when we think of Christmas, we often think of “Hallmark” side of Christmas….the side that presents the beautiful scenery, the wonderful time with family and friends, the songs of Christmas and pageantry of Christmas and much more. Yet, the sobering truth of Christmas is that there is a very ugly side to Christmas. To point out the ugly side is by no means a desire to dim our spirits and joy for the Christmas season, but rather to draw us to the wonder and the magnificence of this time of the year. One aspect of the ugly side of Christmas that many think about this time of the year is the utter commerciality that is utilized this time of the year for the purpose of bigger profits, larger sales, and a larger bottom line for the corporation, but that isn’t the ugliness to which we refer. There is another ugliness to Christmas if we take time to look….it is a picture of a young virgin girl who gives birth to her first born son in the most unsanitary conditions as she walks through the mud, mire, and manure of that stable which was her labor ward, but that is not the ugliness which we are referring to. The reality is, when we look behind the beauty of Christmas, the pageantry, and all of its wonder there is a sobering and a very ugly reality that causes us to have Christmas.