OMG-It's Christmas Is All About!

It is hard to believe that we are midway through Advent and that in a short time we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago! Of course, there has been no shortage of reminders that Christmas is coming from the commercial world! The last syllable of Trick or Treat was hardly out of the mouths of ghosts and goblins when tinsel (does anyone use that anymore??) trees and candy canes lined store shelves! I find this hard to bear, after all how can I enjoy my Thanksgiving turkey leg when commercials are telling me I already missed pre-Black Friday and I'd better arise at 3 AM to get a good spot in line for the (real???) one the next day! As Charlie Brown would so aptly put it...YIKES!!!

Now please do not think me a Scrooge (although it is my favorite Christmas story as I'm a sucker for conversion stories!). I do love Christmas and all the festivities that go with this wonderful day. It just seems to me that we (as a society) are getting further and further away from the reality of what we are truly celebrating - a holy day. A day when in the simplest way, on a starry night a little babe was born. A birth witnessed not by the mighty and strong but by simple shepherds tending their sheep on what seemed another ordinary night and acknowledged by those who were wise enough to recognize the wonder of a star. So in these last two weeks of preparation, (Jackie save a turkey leg for me!), let us try amid all the distractions the commercial world may bring, to attend to our tasks with the patient simplicity of the shepherds. May we have the wisdom, to enjoy with wonder the special stars, our family and friends, who journey with us throughout the year helping us to witness again and again the LOVE of God who came to earth to teach us how to live. Christmas Blessings or as Tiny Tim would say: "GOD BLESS US EVERYONE!"