Christmas 2009

This Christmas is one of changes. I sit at 1 am Christmas morning writing because I can sleep - which is weird for me.

I sit in my sons living room where in a few short hours 4 excited girls will bound in to see what Santa brought them. This is the first Christmas in a number of years that we haven't had Christmas morning at our house.

Christmas Eve the girls opening presents, bouncing up and down with excitement over an Ipod, head bands, baseball gloves, toe socks, games, a watch for one, a purse for another. Yet to me the most memorable is the gift that my 10 year old granddaughter gave her dad. It was a puzzle with of a short story about what Christmas meant to her.

She was excited because this year they didn't have to travel as long to get to grandparents houses but what touched me most was that she said Christmas Eve always started with the reading from Grandpas absolute favorite book Luke 2 in the New Testament. I had to stop and think how proud my Mom would be to know that a tradition she started over 50 years ago was being carried on by her Children, Grandchildren and Great Grandchildren. That her Granddaughter was sharing the Christmas story in Africa to those who had not heard it. That truly is the best present of the season being reminded of past generations and current that are keeping Christ in Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all

The Ghost of Christmas Past

I looked through some of my sisters photos of Christmas past on line and through a Christmas scrapbook I have of each Christmas since the kids were little. I pause each time I come across the photo of our first Christmas in Virginia. I think it was the first time that we were not in Nebraska for Christmas. Money was tight with just moving and about all David got from Santa was a plastic train set that was battery operated. I look at that picture with what now I would consider so little under the tree and see the excitement and joy of a little boy as he watches the train going around on the track. He could have cared less that there was not an abundance of gifts because there was an abundance of love. He reveled in the joy of a new toy. He enjoyed the gift to its fullest.

Then I stop, think of the tremendous gift we were all given that first Christmas. It was given with an abundance love, with joy that we should revel in and we should enjoy that gift to its fullest and most importantly share that gift. That gift should be as contagious as a small child's laugh and excitement over a new toy. It should infect those around us so that they feel God's love and want to share in that gift.