Christmas

I love Christmas!

Probably all of us love Christmas, I suppose. Whether its the secular Christmas (presents, shopping, Santa, reindeers, elves, etc) or the true Christian holiday (Luke 2, Advent, the coming of the Messiah, Mary Did You Know?, etc), there's something truly special about this time of year.

I have some great memories of Christmas as a kid. I remember David and I getting matching "laser machine guns", the kind that make the obnoxious "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d" noise when you pull the trigger. I remember Santa stopping by our house the week before Christmas and giving me a Dymo Labelmaker. I think I labelled everything in my room that year!

When I got a little older, and Angela came on the scene, I started to learn that joy could be found in GIVING gifts, not just RECEIVING gifts. One of my favorite gifts I ever gave was the Play-Doh Fuzzy Pumper I gave Angela when she was maybe 5 or 6. Basically, you packed Play-Doh into a little barber chair and inserted a little figurine with a bald head with holes in it. Then, when you pushed a button or lever, the Play-Doh would come squirting out the head holes like hair! You then gave haircuts using the little plastic scissors. Angela loved that toy, and I loved seeing the joy on her face when she played with it.

Fast forward ten or so years, and I found myself in the role of a stepparent with two young Christmas-loving boys. Now, Christmas at our house had RULES. For example, if one boy received a large gift, the other boy better darn well have a large gift or he was going to be upset! If one boy got, say, 10 gifts, the other boy better not end up with only 9!

Brandon and Zach's favorite gifts for a number of years were those little GI Joe action figures. Each figure came with a few weapons (little plastic knives, guns, flamethrowers, etc), but the boys generally dumped the weapons out on the floor and just took out the GI Joe. I have fond memories of walking around in my bare feet on Christmas morning and feeling a small plastic dagger insert itself into the tender area between my toes! Ouch!

Another memory is the year I bought the boys one of those electric slot car tracks. Not because they wanted, it, mind you. They had no idea what slot cars were...I wanted it because it was one of the presents I wanted but never got when I was a kid! I think they played with it twice, and I sat there for hours using it. Cathy just rolled her eyes (at least one of her "boys" was happy!).

This year, the boys are grown and there are no small children around. The "magic" of Christmas will be found not in the exaggerated expressions of delighted children, but instead in the still quiet voice that whispers the real meaning of Christmas. In Luke Chapter 2, in the eyes of the awestruck shepherds, in the wondering eyes of a young Mary, in the joy on the old lined face of Simeon as he proclaimed:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

May you have a blessed Christmas -- God is with us!