Here it Comes

 

After a week that has been "comparatively quieterish", today marks the beginning of a string of days that will be filled with everything Christmas and wonderful and somewhat busier.

I'm ready.

Tonight is the full dress rehearsal for our annual production of "Let it Be Christmas", the nativity told through the music of the Beatles. Yes, you heard that right. We've been doing this for nigh unto 15 years in a row (COVID notwithstanding) and the response has been so positive, we just keep on doing it.

I'd give you all the deets and a hearty invitation, but both shows, Saturday and Sunday night, have been fully booked for weeks already. That's a bit of news that has spurred on our cast and crew in the final days of prep, wanting to bring our best to the performance so that the story of God's "unspeakable gift" can be told with both excellence and joy.

Of course then, Saturday and Sunday are the performances, with a Christmas Eve celebration afterwards.

Then Christmas morning in all it's glory.

And then a few days of lovely mid-week quiet before things pick up again with grandchildren and sisters-in-law and various and Sunday meals and times together over the New Year's weekend.

And that's how it will roll out for us this year.
At least, that's the plan.
And it's a good one this year, I think. A good balance of all the big and happy, with all the quietly joyful. With time to stop and be still in the middle of it all.

I've been reflecting more on our Thai family, and what it would be like to celebrate Christmas in a culture where it has not also become a secular holiday. As I've mentioned previously, our children will go to school Christmas morning.

My first response is to feel a strong sense of disappointment for them. But then I wonder, would it make Christmas all that much more spiritual, more meaningful, without all the extra we've layered onto it?

These thoughts will guide me, I think, over the next few days.

Does it feel like Friday?
If you're finishing school for a little bit, I'm sure it does.
If you're off for an extra long weekend, I'm sure it does.

So happy Friday-before-Christmas everyone.
However the holidays are rolling out for you,
I wish you meaningful moments filled with all you need
to know you are safe and loved.