Not a Creature was Stirring......Except for a Mouse!

It is now 6:53am. The time of the mouse was 6:17 am. I am here to tell you Christmas will now include green bricks of mouse poison cheer and the sound of mouse traps(one could hope). I will have to be honest and tell you I was hardly sleeping anyway. I have never slept well on Christmas Eve. When I was a kid and maybe even as young as 3 or so I can remember the idea of Santa coming into my house being completely unnerving (this is how Grace feels about the tooth fairy). And I also remember the first year I realized he wasn't the real deal. I was 5 1/2...I got up because I thought I heard him....I was on a mission to bust that guy with the big white beard. But what I found was my mom wrapping my Christmas presents...in aluminum foil no less. I suspect and know that we probably really didn't have money for presents let alone wrapping paper. But I can tell you it was really shiny under our tree that year. I can also tell you two things that I received.....a crimper (yep the original fry your hair till it crimps), and Christmas patterned tights from Avon (my aunt sold it). If I can find the picture of me with my crimped and hair and patterned tights I will share it I promise. But back to Santa....yep the jig was up and I was sort of relieved, there was no creepy man creeping around my house dropping things off and eating my cookies. My mom however, much to my enjoyment, continued to send me Christmas letters until the Christmas after my Senior year of high school. And I think she still believes in Santa, and thats fine by me.

Christmas Eve also brings so much anticipation. Every year during that service God fills me to the brim with overwhelming love and joy and peace and all of that Christmas stuff until my heart can no longer handle it and I enjoy the entire service through misty eyes and a giant lump in my throat. Last night was no different and to top it off I was given the extreme privilege of reading the kids a story about the true meaning of Christmas during the service last night. This was almost the icing on the cake as I watched their eyes hear of the animals in the story. They pointed at the pictures and told me what they liked and I can tell you that is the moment it hit a high for me. These children were experiencing a gift in their own way. There is a gift for everyone on Christmas.....a gift that is there for anyone no matter, their age, size, marital status, background long list of sins or grievances. The gift is there and God just serves it up on a silver platter. I am not sure how the idea of our Lord coming to us in the form of a baby can not knock your sock off. A baby that was formed in his mothers womb, just like each of us and given the most humble of births, only to later be risen as king after dying a most humble death just for me. And not just for me but for anyone who will BELIEVE. This is Christmas.

Sandwiched in my pew at church between my Grandmother and my mother I could hardly handle my emotion last night. It was boiling inside of me. I could feel all of my prayers churning and all of the anticipation and worry, and heartache that I had been feeling over the last year was on the move. I could feel prayers being answered and things leaving that I didn't need and it was joyous....it was peaceful....It was Christmas.

It will be my prayer today for those of you who don't feel Christmas to feel it today. I have struggled this year with feeling "it" in my soul. But I know each of you just like me can feel it if you truly want to.

Merry Christmas!!!