O Holy Night

My family has several unique traditions at Christmastime. One of them is that we open our gifts on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas morning we open our stockings that are filled with smaller more practical gifts like socks and toothpaste. After dinner on Christmas Eve we all gather around the tree and my Mom would get us to sing Christmas songs and then she would read the Christmas story from the Bible. Finally, she would lead us in a prayer. When I was a kid, the entire ordeal of singing, reading, and praying seemed to drag on and on. I used to think that my Mom was purposefully being mean by making us wait on the edge of our seats just dying to get to the gifts under the tree, when in reality she was setting a beautiful model that taught us what the true Spirit of the season is all about.

Years have passed and things have changed a lot. None of those gifts under the tree through the years have ever had any lasting impact on my life. But when we gather together to celebrate Christmas every year now, the one thing I look forward to the most is the thing I used to dread…spending time singing and sharing how much the gift of God means to us now. We share moments of worship and prayer for hope in a tired and desperate world. Now that the years have proved His faithfulness in our lives in light of our constant need for redemption and comfort, this time together has become so much more rich and important to me. I guess that means I’m growing up a little