Christmas Eve-It Still Brings Out My Inner Kid

I woke up early, early, as I always do on Christmas Eve.  The energy is special this day.   As a kid, I remember it being the longest day of the year, despite what the almanac might say.  Christmas was at hand; so close, and yet so far.  It’s a day when I feel all the beauty of the season that surrounds me, the lights, trees, decorations, ornaments–it all begins to converge toward the point, if not source of the beauty.

I try to have a special breakfast to start this day.  This morning it will be green chili and eggs with cheese, along with a tortilla or two.  Doesn’t sound all that extravagant, but for me it’s an out of the ordinary meal that can hold me over for most of the day.  Which is good, since today is a busy, busy day at the church, tidying up many last-minute details, and making sure all is in place for our service.  But I love such busyness.  We will be putting out luminarias, or farolitos, for our evening candlelight service.  These consist of small paper bags with a lighted candle within, along with a bit of sand to anchor the bag against the wind.  It’s a pretty sight to see when we’ve done this in the past.

I think the greatest gift my mother ever handed on to me was her love of Christmas.  She flat-out LOVED Christmas.

Looking back on my childhood, I can still see her in my mind’s eye enjoying the day and season as much as we kids did.

This year is definitely the year that proves the joy of Christmas has less to do with the quality and quanity of presents under the tree, and more to do with that special energy, a joyous, buoying sort of energy, that goes along with this strange but powerful convergence of all the beauty around us toward a single point.  Or single source.

I hope your Christmas Eve and Christmas are similarly blessed.  Or as our good friend, Tiny Tim would say, “God bless us, everyone!”

Time now to stoke the fire for the day with Christmas Eve breakfast.