… you know that magical fairyland inviting you to open a hidden door into the  fantasies of childhood.  I’ve searched especially hard this season, and yet, even now, I’m not sure what I’ve been seeking. Perhaps the sensational expectations with tinsel and glitter are not to be found due to my physical tiredness. A new bout of Covid has stolen Christmas. I’ve been too exhausted to bake even one cookie! There were no Christmas scents stirring up memories from my kitchen.

I settle down with a cup of Christmas chai while Pandora whispers carols softly… I wait.  It’s as if I’m waiting for all Christmases past to parade on the snow-covered screen in front of me, and  I’ll find Christmas Present. It’s not there.

Creches perch on every shelf and table—a crystal  one from Sweden, an olivewood one from Jerusalem, pottery ones from Hungary, and Peru. Hand carved ones from Italy, from Germany. Handmade ornaments from around the world hang from the dead, green branches on the tree… is the Christmas spirit alive?

I can’t find Christmas in the sights and sounds—suddenly all is so ordinary.

It was a cold night in December, 1964, when we bought our first nativity. We were so young… I was 19, Tom was 20. We found this at Woolworths.  Christmas was so real, so joyful in that moment.

But, alas, Christmas is not found in the figures of a cold creche.

I survey the few gifts left under the tree (the postal sleigh delivered others)… and wonder… is Christmas hidden in every unwrapped package?

Please understand and know… I love, love Christmas, this magical season of anticipation and excitement. Tom tells me I have lived in a fantasy, an illusion of the perfect Christmas. Perhaps I have… perhaps I still do. But this year, I was lost (for a time). I could not “find” the spirit of Christmas  in all the generic nuances… in all the bells. There must be more, much more in this angelic announcement that a “Savior is born… for me, for you.”  I expect more  in this celebration of an infant come to earth for our freedom. I expect more in the truth that this “sweet little Jesus boy “ grew into a man to give His life for our days…. There is a reality we long for.  G.K. Chesterton says, “Christmas for the Christian is a gigantic secret.”

What does it all mean?

… where is Christmas?…

We literally have tons of leaves in the fall, and Tom tries to get ahead of the task, but not this year. Most of the trees undressed while we were gone in early November. When we returned on Thanksgiving Eve from two weeks in Vienna, Austria, there was not a single leaf in the yard! Someone had swept millions of leaves and bedded them down in the garden. Later, I looked at the garden covered with all those leaves, “This is Christmas”, I smiled.

We have no idea who did this … but it was Christmas! And it was November!

We were gifted with the tickets to Vienna in August… oh, that was Christmas!

We have been given the privilege of pastoring a small church in a nearby county… it was Christmas in September! How beautiful it is to once again have a people to love.

Because of Tom’s illness and hospitalization while in Vienna, our return flight was delayed five days. This sweet church upgraded our flight home . That was beautiful Christmas!

While we were away, our sweet neighbor loved on our two cats many days, extra days, and took care of them gently… Christmas.

A few months ago, when eating out, we asked the waitress to give us the receipt for a family of five eating near us. The waitress didn’t keep the secret, and a few days later, I received an email full of gratitude. The mother shared how much our gift meant to them; they are going through an incredible difficult time as their 17-year-old daughter has a rare cancer. That was a Christmas moment for them.

Christmas is Now. It’s always Now.. in the everyday as believers live out the love and joy placed in their hearts. It’s in sharing the hope, the good news of God’s love and grace. “For You have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth” (Psalm 71:15).

“For those who claim His name, Christmas heralds this luminous truth: The God of Jesus Christ is our absolute future”… so writes Brennan Manning (Reflections for Ragamuffins, p336).

I would add to that and say that if we believe this, it is more than our future; it is our Now. We cannot separate the truth… the hope and peace of Christmas in December from the Christmases in the Januarys or the Junes.

The sixth stanzas in the original Austrian version of Silent Night proclaims:

Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht! Hirten erst kundgemacht
Durch der Engel Halleluja, Tönt es laut von fern und nah:
Christus, der Retter, ist da! Christus, der Retter ist da!

 Jesus, the Savior is here!  Jesus, the Savior is here!!

He is here… now. I encourage you to celebrate Christmas every day in this New Year, giving of your resources and time, sharing the hope you have and the joy you are given.

… where is Christmas…

It is here… now.

(This is somewhat disjointed, but I am, too currently! But I did want to connect with you and to wish you a glorious New Year.)