Christmas Eve

It's late here, Christmas Eve.  My youngers are in bed and my honey too.  Our two older girls are on their way back from Grandma and Grandpa's some 70 miles away.  They opted to spend Christmas Eve there because it's something they've done every Christmas Eve of their young lives.  The rest of us are recovery from a virus and decided not to inflict our misery on others, so we stayed home.  We are also used to spending every Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa so this was a strange Christmas.

We're used to lutefisk and ham and rice pudding with one prize winning almond hidden in it. We're used to the torturous time it takes to get the dishes done after dinner before we can open our presents.  Then there's coffee and more eating.  Finally we all pile in the car and head for home, drowsy, stuffed and too tired to think about Santa coming.

You know what?  We had fresh salmon, instead of lutefisk.  Steak fries instead of boiled potatoes.  We read Luke 2 and prayed together.  We still had the torturous time after dinner getting the dishes done before we could open presents.  (Couldn't resist :).
We only had each other and it was still Christmas.  I didn't expect it.  I thought Christmas traditions were so important that without them it would seem like any other night.  But it was CHRISTMAS!  How wonderful the gift of heaven. 

I found out for myself that it truly is Christ that makes it Christmas.  What a wonderful Saviour.

Merry Christmas.