The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...Maybe

I've been listening to Christmas music all this month and really enjoy some of the songs. Whenever I hear a Carpenter's version of any Christmas song I think back to decorating the tree growing up, when we always listened to their record. I feel all warm and fuzzy and ready to give gifts to everyone I meet. But some of the songs I find are making me a bit grouchy this year. "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is one of them. The MOST wonderful time of the year? Parties for hosting (those get a little stressful for me), caroling out in the snow (well, no snow, and I can't really sing), and tales of the stories of Christmases long, long ago (that would mean everyone in the family gets along and even wants to remember those Christmases in the past).

I think you get my point.

But, this point isn't to grouch or complain that my Christmas experience doesn't match up with what I hear on the radio. It is to rejoice that Christmas actually is the celebration of hope coming -- hope in place of all the disappointments and "not-quite-perfect" Christmases of the past.

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"Isn't there ANYONE who knows what Christmas is all about" -Charlie Brown
"Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about." -Linus

The angels weren't excited because just some baby was born, or some gifts were going to be given, or a one horse open sleigh was taking off in the snow.  No.  They were excited because the world had been through years and years of sadness, disappointment, and no real relationship with the God of creation.  But now, through this "Savior, who is Christ, the Lord", HOPE had come to the world at last.  The angels rejoiced because now they didn't have to watch humans strive and worry and try and survive more disappointment -- they would have a hope of something better.  Jesus would live a life explaining what knowing God was really like, and then would die as sacrifice for all the places we screw up, thus giving humans a way to finally be really and truly connected personally to the God of all.  Hope!

So, if your Christmas this year isn't all your dreamed it would be, or has turned out to be more stressful than joyful, you're in a wonderful place to relate to the "shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night."  They didn't have reason to rejoice until they knew of the Hope that would exist because Jesus was born. 

Don't let the disappointments or stress of this holiday get you down -- for it was for hope that Jesus came, to set us free from our sin and set us free from our guilt and disappointments. 

So, no, I won't be roasting chestnuts by the fire this year, and maybe those gifts I bought with care won't be loved as much as I'd hoped they would, but none of that really matters.  Hope has come and I am going to think about that this year for a change.