It's 9:30 a.m. Christmas Eve morning. The laundry and housework are nearly done, two large pans of lasagna sit atop the kitchen cabinet, prepped and waiting to be baked. One loaf of French bread is done and another is rising, while yet a third is being mixed up in the bread machine.
All the while Alexa quietly plays classic Christmas songs in the background and I await an expected visit from a couple of "unexpected" Christmas Eve visitors who plan to stop by while in the area.
The music is soothing. Many of the songs take me back to Christmases long, long ago to days of childhood. Sweet memories pop into my mind. So many sweet faces that I miss.
After the bread is done, I will pop the lasagna in the oven to bake while I run out to the park to do a couple of things that need done before the holiday.
After that it will be time to come home, set up the tables, pull out the Christmas linens, and put all the finishing touches on everything before the family arrives for our annual candlelight Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year. It is with much anticipation that I look forward to it year after year. And, then, after the busyness passes and the midnight hour approaches, it is with childlike wonder I press into the real meaning of Christmas. It is then that I go outside, look up, and observe the heavens.
As my lungs drink in the frosty, crisp air of a cold winter's night, I gaze up at the stars. They hang there, large and sparkling against the inky blackness of the winter sky, and I wonder.
I wonder what it must have been like that first Christmas night. I think of Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger...of the shepherd's tending their flocks on the hillside when, all of a sudden, a host of heavenly angels appear...heralding the birth of the little Lord Jesus our Savior and King! What an amazing and wonderful thing it must have been to witness such an event first-hand!
Then I think...what an amazing thing it still is! To KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that what happened that night, 2,000 years ago, was real and that, we today, if we will receive it, are able to bear witness of that same Gift that was given to a hurting world so long, long ago.
How about you and yours? How do you spend Christmas Eve? What's your favorite part of it?
Until next time,
~Rebecca
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All the while Alexa quietly plays classic Christmas songs in the background and I await an expected visit from a couple of "unexpected" Christmas Eve visitors who plan to stop by while in the area.
The music is soothing. Many of the songs take me back to Christmases long, long ago to days of childhood. Sweet memories pop into my mind. So many sweet faces that I miss.
After the bread is done, I will pop the lasagna in the oven to bake while I run out to the park to do a couple of things that need done before the holiday.
After that it will be time to come home, set up the tables, pull out the Christmas linens, and put all the finishing touches on everything before the family arrives for our annual candlelight Christmas Eve dinner.
Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year. It is with much anticipation that I look forward to it year after year. And, then, after the busyness passes and the midnight hour approaches, it is with childlike wonder I press into the real meaning of Christmas. It is then that I go outside, look up, and observe the heavens.
As my lungs drink in the frosty, crisp air of a cold winter's night, I gaze up at the stars. They hang there, large and sparkling against the inky blackness of the winter sky, and I wonder.
I wonder what it must have been like that first Christmas night. I think of Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger...of the shepherd's tending their flocks on the hillside when, all of a sudden, a host of heavenly angels appear...heralding the birth of the little Lord Jesus our Savior and King! What an amazing and wonderful thing it must have been to witness such an event first-hand!
Then I think...what an amazing thing it still is! To KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt that what happened that night, 2,000 years ago, was real and that, we today, if we will receive it, are able to bear witness of that same Gift that was given to a hurting world so long, long ago.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16)"
How about you and yours? How do you spend Christmas Eve? What's your favorite part of it?
Until next time,
~Rebecca
Recent and related posts that you might enjoy reading...
Sounds like such a nice Christmas Eve. I think my favorite parts are the quiet parts in between all the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready.
ReplyDeleteYes, the quiet parts are important. They make the hustle and bustle parts smoother and more enjoyable! :)
ReplyDelete