A Christmas Letter

Dear Reader, 

All the things I dread about Christmas are left to do: cooking, cleaning, and traveling.

I know, I know, I have left so much until the last moment., but the house is decorated, and the gifts are bought. Almost everything is wrapped.

My kids are filled with anticipation and after my sixteen year old gets home from work today it is FAMILY time for sure.

Except, dad won't be there. He will be in the house, secluded in his room, sick as a dog. Even the smell of a honey roasting ham is making him sick. He has the flu. I feel horrible for him. This is his favorite holiday. My husband Randy giggles with excitement and quivers with anticipation every year: not because he wants gifts, but because he cannot wait to give gifts. His generosity is only stopped by his wallet. If he had it to spend, he would spend until my girls and I burst with gifts.

Since gift giving is one of my love languages, I adore this characteristic of my husband's. I love how selfless he is as he plans and plots to bless us. As soon as I know he has something for me, I begin to squirm with the "not-knowing".  I feel the need to have the present right then. I have to have it. I long for it. I dream about it. I think to myself all the different things it might be. Yet, every year, my husband makes me wait. He says Christmas comes once a year, and that I have to wait for what is to come, otherwise it would not mean as much.

How wise he is. 

Our Heavenly Father must have felt the same way. He longed to give us a way back to Him. For so long the earth and all that was on it groaned for salvation. God planned and He plotted - to bless us. We waited in anticipation, dreaming of what God had in store for us: thinking of all the things it might be. We longed for it. We cried out for it. We waited.

Then, nearly 2,000 years ago, everything changed. 

The gift was on its way. Wrapped in humanity, placed with care with people who raise him. Jesus was given to us. This was not on December 25, or May 25th or any other "day" recorded precisely in history, but tomorrow we celebrate what the gift of a Savior means to the world.

Among the presents and the smiles and the servings of Christmas ham, and seconds of cake, remember why we gather together. The gifts, the family time; this would be another day, like any other, had we not received the greatest gift of all first, all those years ago.

As my family gathers around the tree tomorrow, I will be thinking of a man who hung on a tree for me, who first came as a tiny baby. Sweet, soft, fragile, and meek, Jesus came to save us - to redeem us back to the Father- the price for our brokenness.

Merry Christmas, and may the joy of the Lord and the fullness of His love, Jesus, be with you today and everyday.

~ Dayna