Could it be my imagination, or does merry old Christmas really catch up with us more quickly every year⢠It seems a person no sooner gets over the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving than there it is, Christmas Eve. Almost before I knew it, it was time once again to chase an agile, but reluctant grandson to the cold and dusty attic to retrieve those big boxes of treasured, but fragile tree ornaments, some of which have been around almost as long as I have.
Through the years since I have been writing these Christmas articles I've covered a lot of my holiday happenings. You and I have taken sentimental strolls down memory lane to those long-gone days when my three children were small, and I have told you how they used to sit their little selves down in front of our old black and white TV to watch closely as Paul Shannon of "Adventure Time" "blasted off" another load of mail to Santa at his combination home and workshop in the far-off North Pole. How exciting (in a good way) life was back then!
As evidence that, yes, I once was a giddy teenager, I have related tales of the holidays as they were long before I ever thought of having children who would write letters to a man named, of all things, Santa Claus. And believe me, I will forever remember that Christmas gift mistake I have no doubt already burned into your memory by telling and retelling that incident about buying what I thought was a pretty necklace for my best friend (at one of the five and dime stores in town) only to find out too late that it was, in reality, a rosary.
A lot of time passed by and there came the year when I listened to that song called "I'll Be Home For Christmas," with very real tears in my eyes because he was not going to be -- our first-born son was far away in Germany. For the very first time we were separated by an ocean and thousands of miles on this best-of-all holidays.
Christmas is that extraordinary time when good will ooze from every pore. Some of us may mistakenly think those joyous feelings come along with the sparkling lights, the holly wreaths and presents under the tree (and they do help), but I choose to believe we are blessed with that wonderful glow by one amazing, blazing star in the heavens, signaling the birth of a tiny baby in a manger in Bethlehem, at which time God sent a host of his angels who sang to the lowly shepherds about "peace on earth, good will to men."
That, my friends, is the true meaning behind this day we call Christmas, so rejoice and have a Merry Christmas everyone. "For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given." Isaiah 9:6.
