November 16, 2012
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Never too soon for Christmas
Many people feel strongly that we ought to celebrate one holiday at a time. Christmas decorations in November, before Thanksgiving, seem hurried and somewhat ridiculous. But for some of us, Christmas can’t get here fast enough. The Christmas tree, the twinkling lights, the velvet stockings, the flickering candles, the warm fires, the smell of pine, the celebratory time with family and, most importantly, the focus on the Word that became flesh…the entrance of the One who changed the whole world and the entire course of my life… how can I not love Christmas?
This year, the demand for an early commencement of Christmas celebration was urged most emphatically by our young preschooler. And how can I resist? The awe and wonder in her heart is mirrored in my own. And when I hear her squeals and see her face light up, I am touched in profound new ways as I experience it all for the first time through her.
This year, as we are putting up Christmas decorations, I find myself pausing every so often as a contraction arrests my attention. It’s the other reason that urges us along in our Christmas festivities — the reality that by time that Christmas does arrive, so will our new baby — and at that time, there won’t be any available opportunity to do any decorating. So as we hang up the stockings and pull out the strings of lights, I can’t help but reflect on the many challenges that we will undoubtedly face as well as the joy that will well up within me when I finally get to see my son for the first time.
Life is such a gift, and throughout the course of this pregnancy, I have been repeatedly reminded of what a gift really is. Freely given. Unmerited. Unrepayable. And I am an undeserved recipient. This Christmas, more than any other, I celebrate life and grace, and grace and life, all intertwined, with the breathless awe and wonder of my preschooler. And so how can I resist but start now? It’s never too soon for Christmas.
