So This Is Christmas

It’s Christmas Eve, 2016.  Our bedroom closet has been officially off limits to anyone under the age of 11 for the past several weeks.  The trunk on the car also requires security clearance.  We’ve had an environmentally friendly, less combustible plastic shrub in our family room now for weeks.  Thanks to the dog I’ve had the pleasure of applying electrical tape more than twice now to ensure said shrub will glow beautifully while at the same time reducing the risk of electrical shock and fire.  We’ve watched the young man nearly shoot his eye out (twice already this year) and played air guitar with that orchestra from across Siberia.  Gluttony has occurred at least 3 times now since November 25 and it’s safe to say will come up a few more times before 2017.  That’s the standard stuff though.  Something else is happening with more frequency now as I put some miles between my own childhood Christmases.  Memories from the past come back to me now as I see my own children recreating them in their own lifetimes.

Watching the kids excitedly make up sleeping pallets under the tree reminded me of years gone by

where I would (and could easily) slide under the tree and gaze up at the lights and ornaments as I drifted off to sleep.  I’m thankful that my wife has instilled such a joy for giving in the kids.  Even now I can hear them in their room wrapping and giggling (it’s 615am).  She told me last night that they had used 3 new rolls of tape to wrap 10 small gifts.  I shook my head and smiled.  I remember wrapping gifts as a kid.  It is neither environmentally friendly nor fiscally responsible.  OSHA would not approve of the manner in which blades are wielded and then held in mouths.  But blood dries.  Clearly these joyful memories are worth it.

But there is more.  This year is a bit of a treat, as Christmas falls on a Sunday.  Natalie and I have talked several times about the excitement of gathering with our church family to sing of Emmanuel’s arrival.  I suspect the choir and band will step it up a notch and that more than a few times on Sunday morning I will be overcome with the intense awareness that "this is it…this is what it is all about".  I’ll look down the row of seats, see my row o’ kids and think "yeah, I’m rich beyond what I deserve".  And that is a small part of what Christmas is about.  I am acutely aware of the fact that my life as I know it today would not exist were it not for the event that we commemorate each year on December 25^th.  Were it not for the ultimate condescension of God into man I would still be looking to a temporary sacrifice to cover my guilt and, let’s be honest, the guilt is copious and there are all sorts of government agencies now to regulate animal sacrifice. 

When we return from church tomorrow afternoon we will have a family supper and then gather up in the family room to read the account of when God became man, hope took on flesh, death was put on notice, sin lost it’s sting and the grave began to tremble.  All the childrens’ church plays, all the knick knacky nativity scenes, all trees with stars…all of those point towards a profound and powerful event. The remind us of the cataclysmic collision between God and man, Light and dark, Holy and profane, Live and death.  Christmas commemorates the offer made by the King of All to all of us.  No longer must the slave tremble.  No longer must the hooker hang their head.  No longer must the sinner die.  The captives can be set free.  The blind can begin to see the truth.  The deaf can begin to hear the words of life.  Heaven came down.  God became man.  He is God with us, Emmanuel. 

So, *this* is Christmas.  

Merry Christmas, ya’ll.