So what about Christmas Eve?
Well, Christmas time is a joy.
- You get together with family.
- You visit old friends.
- You exchange gifts in celebration.
- And you take time to pause as the year nears its end.
- It is a time for being thankful.
- And it is a time for celebrating your faith.
I posit all of this – but in splitting hairs – I have to point it out:
Christmas Eve is better than Christmas.
You see, by noon on Christmas day, the holiday season feels like it is essentially over.
The presents have been unwrapped, the food has been eaten, and many are already thinking about packing to go home.
In a furry, the day begins and quickly bounds toward the late afternoon and evening.
As Christmas day starts, it seems to slip away.
The good part, you see, is in the anticipation.
The build-up to the trip you have been planning for over a year and the inbound flight reek with excitement and apprehension.
In climbing, the last hundred steps to the top of the mountain is where the pleasure is found.
And the 30 seconds before the sun peeks above the horizon is where the beauty of the morning rests.
Because of this, I will spend the evening of Christmas Eve like I always do.
I will sit by a fire with a good book and warm drink, and I will read late into the night as everyone else sleeps.
The flicker of the fire and a lit Christmas tree will light my pages and I will grasp at the moment before another Christmas begins, and quietly slips away.
Let me invite you to sit with me for a while and enjoy these few hours before dawn.
God Bless these hours.
Merry Christmas.
