Christmas Eve

Well, tomorrow is Christmas. Christmas songs fill the air, the tree is all decorated with the crafts of the past and presents for the future sit neatly beneath. Nativity scenes of all sorts are placed about the room and the stockings are just waiting to be filled with all sorts of goodies.

Okay, so those are all the serene things about the house, but your too busy to notice them. I bet I could tell you what's going on in the average Christian household.

Parents- running about the house, trying to clean it up before all your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and what-have-you come over.

Kids 16 and older- busy running in and out, buying last minute gifts (which they forgot to do because they were playing with friends) and trying to find the wrapping paper and scissors and tape.

Teens under 16- playing video games and begging their older siblings and parents to take them shopping and discussing what they might get for Christmas with their friends.

Younger kids- trying to figure out what's in the boxes, and doing some last minute puppy faces.

Pets- tearing up the presents and knocking off the ornaments.

Now tell me, am I right or not? You have no time to admire the beauty of Christmas. In Sunday school you get the Christmas story and as you get older the more and more they talk about how you're tired of hearing the story but now you're more tired of hearing that your tired of hearing the Christmas story (if that makes any since). Also, when you get to the teenager age, you stop feeling the spirit of Christmas and you're wondering where it all went until you get to collage and you either find it again, or you loose it all together.

So, anyway, my point is that you never take the time to look at the beauty of Christmas. But I find that if you simply stop doing the things you need to get done, you have more time to do them. Always plan your day and spread everything out through the week, so that you still have time to admire everything. So get off the computer and go to your living room or wherever your tree is, lie down beneath it (if there's room) and stare up amongst the branches where the ornaments are barely visible. (Note: if you have a fake Christmas tree, this may not work as well. In that case, just sit down next to it and look up so that it towers up above you.) Stay there a few minutes and just think. Think about anything, let your mind wander wherever it wants to. Whether it works for you or not I don't know, but it works for me and gets any pressures of any sort out of my mind. Even though it may look ridiculous.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and don't let the craziness of it get in the way of the beauty and peacefulness. After all, it is Jesus' birthday, not yours. You should take the time to admire what he did for you.