Christmas Time Is Here (And Going WAY TOO FAST!)

I love Christmas time. I love it. I can't wait all year for it and then the season is upon us and passes by like a flash of lightning. Every year we talk about making a calendar of special traditions to make sure that we don't miss out on something and every year we fail to do so and it is Christmas before we know it!

At our church this weekend, we had 1980s Christian music icon Wayne Watson. I was never a huge fan of the man although his duet with Sandi Patty on "Another Time, Another Place" was a standard in the Hughes household. I managed to sit in the balcony at the Saturday night service by myself. Nobody was really sitting up there so I had the luxury of stretching out and enjoying myself.

I have been feeling stressed out, tired, and overworked for the past few weeks for a number of reasons. God found a way to speak to me in that service to remind me that the lacking "tradition" of Christmas for me right now was joy.

I began to think back on past Christmases as I listened to Wayne sing some carols. It's funny too because my most treasured Christmas memories are not those involving a cool gift that I received or an especially generous season.

The things that came to my mind were all centered around the joy of the Lord.

I thought about my childhood pastor and the joy of the Lord that he exhibited to everyone, but especially at Christmastime.

I thought of the endless times we went Christmas caroling to shut-ins, to the sick, to nursing homes.

I thought of the Christmas parties our church threw for the kids from the Camden neighborhood center and of one girl in particular from that center. She was all of about 7 or 8 and had absolutely nothing in this world stuff-wise. We stood around a piano and this little girl from Camden belted out the most beautiful, innocent and joy soaked version of Away in a Manger that I have ever heard even to this day.

I think of the time I spent with my parents and brother and the trips to Lancaster to ride the train.

I think of my wedding (Dec 4, 1999) and our first Christmas together.

I think of all of the Christmases since the birth of our children and the pure joy that sharing this season with them brings to Jaci and I.

I then think of the Savior of mankind. The Son of God, who chose to be born to a couple so poor that they had to offer a turtle-dove at the temple (the cheapest offering one could make) and who had nothing, providing only a manger filled with hay for the Savior to sleep in.

How ironic that the world tries to make Christmas a holiday about stuff, when Jesus makes it just the opposite. The one thing that Mary & Joseph did have was the joy of the Lord. Jesus brought joy to the world that night in Bethlehem. It was despite our circumstance and in spite of our sin.

I find that I generally like the beginnings to stories more than the end. Maybe that's why I respond so much more strongly to Christmas than to Easter. Maybe it's because I can relate to Joseph and often try to think about what this night meant to him.

Don't miss the joy this Christmas season that the baby in Bethelehem represents!

(FYI we will be taking the Christmas pictures of the kids this week. Check back soon as I will be posting them as soon as I get them!)