A Day and Night of Anticipation and Hope

Christmas Eve has always been my favorite day of the year. As a child, although Christmas morning brought presents around the tree, it was Christmas Eve that brought the emotion. Christmas Eve is about expectation, hope and promise. 

Christmas Eve was the one night of the year that my sister, brother and I all slept in the same bed on the second story of our home in North St. Louis so (when we were very young) Santa could come and (later) so that our parents could put the gifts around the tree and make those all-important last-minute assemblies. It was our hope and the promise of the expected and desired that fueled our day and evening, our expectation and excitement that made it hard to sleep. 

The historic and religious meaning of Christmas Eve and Day may not have been the foremost thoughts on our minds those days, of course, although a small manger scene always had a central place beneath our tree. Sometimes obscured by the pile of presents, it was always there as a still and silent reminder of the true and original gift of Christmas. 

It’s easy to lose sight of the Christ-child with everything else that we sometimes put in the way. But sometime today or this evening, make sure your view is clear all the way back to a hovel on a backstreet of Bethlehem. Beyond the beauty of a perfectly decorated and glittering tree and a mountain of presents for those you love, imagine the expectation and desire of a young couple, both joyful and frightened at the thought of a birth they still could not fully understand. Imagine the wonder of shepherds and the worship of kings. Imagine a Creator who knew we needed him to be with us for a while. Imagine a savior born as helpless as a baby lamb. Imagine that he continues to come into our hearts even now, huddled together and awaiting a gift we still can’t quite fathom.

Love. Peace. Joy. In us and with us forever. 

Merry Christmas.