The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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It is currently six degrees outside. There is a blanket of white covering everything. Everywhere I look in my house there is a decoration, tree, colorful light. It’s Christmas time, baby!!! It’s one of my most favorite times of the year and not just because of Christmas break (school teacher perk), but really because of everything.

I love the decorations; I think the lights have to be my favorite. I love Christmas movies too. “Are you serious, Clark?” Why yes, I am, and yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. The music, love it or hate it, signals Christmas glee. I’m just getting ready to create my fourth Christmas playlist, this one called Christmas Family Favs where I torture my loved ones until they tell me their top ten Christmas songs and help create my new playlist. I mean seriously, this time of year is just magical.

While thinking about this blog post, I really used my brain power to figure out what makes Christmas so magical. Some would say it’s the gifts. No matter if you’re waiting to get a gift, or if you’d rather be the gift giver, it can be rather exhilarating. Some could say getting to see family is the best, and certainly for those parents whose grown kids have moved away, this has to top the tree. For some it could be an event like that certain Christmas concert, or Christmas Eve service, or reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas to your kids on the night before Christmas.

There are so many things, and maybe yours wasn’t even on the list. At this time of year, there are just many things that cause our souls to smile. But why? What do all of these things have in common? That was the question I asked myself as I sat at my kitchen table with my Christmas-themed coffee mug, drinking my favorite brew with peppermint mocha creamer infused.

As I pondered, I drifted back, way back, to my childhood. I thought about Christmas morning. My mom and dad were divorced, but had remained friendly. So on Christmas morning, my sister and I would have to await my dad’s arrival to our house before we could run out to the tree and see what Santa had brought us. I’ll never forget how we sat in my room and every ten minutes asked my mom if Dad was here yet. Dad was then and is now, perpetually late. It is kind of a running joke in our family. But there was nothing funny about it to two kids waiting to do Christmas. We felt as though we would burst from excitement.

Fast forward many years to my own kids. My kids are grown now. One is 21, the other 16, but I remember those days of them running into Mom and Dad’s bedroom at the crack of dawn and wanting to head downstairs. They didn’t have to wait as long as my sister and I did, but waiting for their parents to get up and be ready to face the world must have seemed like an eternity to them. But the best part came as they started to descend the steps.

Pam and I would already be downstairs. Pam would make them stop and sit on the steps so she could take video of them telling us what year it was, how old they were, and what the real reason for the season is. God bless my wife for that! The kids would patiently answer the questions, but on the inside they surely just wanted to bound down those steps. Even though they’re grown, the tradition lives, as we still make them do that to this day!

As I reflected on those two memories, the common denominator is what I think makes Christmas so special: it’s the anticipation. The anticipation of seeing what Santa brought, the anticipation of giving that perfect gift, or maybe the anticipation of a wonderful Christmas Eve service – basically, it’s the anticipation of everything from the snow to bow. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we learn this Christmas anticipation while we are children.

Of course the real reason for the season, as my kids told us on many Christmas mornings, was Jesus’ birth. I don’t think it is by accident that we first experience that excited anticipation as children, during Christmas, the time of year we celebrate when Christ was born. It seems as though that jubilant expectancy has been written into our DNA because that is the type of anticipation Jesus wants from us year round.

You’ve heard the saying “keep Christmas in your heart the whole year.” I think what that saying means is to keep the anticipation for Christ the whole year long. Jesus doesn’t just arrive for us on Christmas and then wait another year to show up. He is with us all the time. And why shouldn’t we have that joyful expectancy of Him every morning when we get out of bed? Anticipating His blessings, anticipating His strength, anticipating His answers to prayer, and on and on.

Why do we learn anticipation during the Christmas season as children? Simply put, because that Christmas anticipation, that wonder, awe, and amazement of a child on Christmas morning, is what our Lord wants from us every day! Every day expecting Him to show up in our lives. Every day not being able to wait and see what He has in store. Every day allowing the joy of Christmas to fill our soul.

So when you hear someone talk about keeping Christmas in your heart all year, think back on this, think back on the excitement and anticipation you had as a child, and anticipate Christ in that way. The joy of Christmas may just follow you around the whole year. Until next time, enjoy whatever part of Christmas makes your heart sing, and I’ll do the same. Merry Christmas!