It may just be me...but the lights seem to be a little brighter this year, and no, it isn't because some of them are LED. Maybe it's the economy; people are looking for a positive distraction from job loss and foreclosures. Maybe it's the build up; retailers have been pushing Christmas since the 5th of July. Maybe it's that everyone saw "Christmas with the Kranks" or read "Skipping Christmas" last year and realize now that there is no use avoiding it...and if they have to do it they might as well throw an extra strand on. I honestly don't know what it is. I cannot deny though that when I drive around town there just seems to be more twinkle. And that my friends, is a very good thing.
In my 3 and a half decades milling around and tripping over the bumps on this planet I have never experienced a time when the world could use a good Christmas as much as we all can now. I'm not talking about a big Christmas. We had plenty of those in the 80's. I'm not talking about an extravagant Christmas. We had those through the 90's. I'm not talking (although the retailers would argue otherwise) about an expensive Christmas. We have those every year. The Christmas I am talking about is the magical... children singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, cut-out cookies and hot cocoa, red and green everywhere, send out some cards to distant relatives, plan a family dinner (and invite ALL the family), get your butt to church, find an advent wreath and learn which candle to light first, Twas the Night Before Christmas reading, celebrate the fact that this IS Jesus Christ's birthday party... good old fashioned Christmas.
Don't worry about fancy, worry about family. Don't worry about re-gifting, worry about giving. Don't worry if you can't afford to give a lot of gifts, worry about giving the gift of time and a little of yourself. Bake cookies and deliver them in person to some neighbors or relatives you might not see often enough. Have some people over for coffee and cookies and enjoy their company without worrying if you have dishes in the sink or laundry that needs folded. Call someone whom you love and share a Christmas memory you have of them from years ago. Find an "angel tree" somewhere and buy a gift for a complete stranger...you get where I am going with this. Do the things that make you sigh when you accidentally flip to a Holiday movie on the Hallmark Channel.
Remember...Santa is watching.
It just seems like the world is crying out for a good, wholesome, homegrown Christmas. Where Christ is the center of attention and there is more joy in who you are with than what you will get.
There is a heightened sense of urgency this year...we are already 2 full rows down on the advent calender. I have already watched Christmas Vacation...twice. Jingle the Elf has already fallen off the wine rack atop the fridge and had to be placed ever-so-carefully to a safer place, on the Christmas tree with tongs... as not to touch him and spoil his Christmas magic...
...the game is afoot...the clock has started...time is running out...
...the game is afoot...the clock has started...time is running out...
But the lights... you must admit ...they are shining brighter this year.
Only 15 days left until Christmas. And I plan to make the most of each one.
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