Thoughts on Christmas

So This is Christmas...

My most poignant Christmas memory comes from what for some reason was also my most difficult Christmas. Two years ago I was travelling home after the Christmas Eve services early in the morning. At this point, I was working for the Methodist Church and having to wait until after 9 or so to be finished at church. Then I was traveling home and arriving in North Carolina at about 4 or 5 in the morning.

On one of my stops on the trip, I stopped in a gas station or Wendy's or something. It was probably about one o clock in the morning. As I walked in and saw the people sitting in the booth at a Wendy's I heard the music playing, "So this is Christmas". Yes, this is Christmas.

This year my thinking on Christmas has shifted quite a bit. Not being in a formal church I have missed all the Christmas carols and preparations for the season. In a way this has been fine. I used to work very hard every Christmas to make it feel special. I felt like I needed to feel the magic of Christmas like I did when I was a kid.

Last year, I let it all go. My whole family couldn't be together, and I realized that it wasn't going to be the same. This year, we were all together again. Yes, I know that Christmas is the day the church chose to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, but to me the miracle of Christmas is the joy and peace of families coming together. I celebrate the incarnation every day. Or at least I recognize that I should.

God so loved the world. And He sent Jesus, as a baby, and this baby grew and became a pretty incredible child, and the child grew and became the most amazing man to have ever lived. Fully God and fully Man, loving the sinners and hanging out with the untouchables. He did this to show God's love. This is something to be celebrated every day. We don't know what day He was born, but the fact that He lived is something to celebrate.

I see this year the miracle of a god so loving that He would orchestrate a day for the world to stop. All over the world, this day is different than all other days. There is a month on this secular planet where people think of others and prepare for a day to slow down and enjoy each other.

Christmas will never be the same as it was, but it's not supposed to be. One day, (hopefully), I'll have kids and be able to see the joy and magic of Christmas in their eyes, and the anticipation of this day that feels so different than all other days.