Merry Christmas! Every year Christmas seems so far off into the future, but, before we know it, it has passed. This year has been especially quick. I can hardly believe Christmas is this coming Tuesday.

We have started our new online retail business this year. They say time flies when you are having fun. I have been super busy having fun playing Santa Claus this year, selling and shipping Christmas gifts all over the world. I shipped a handmade German snowman Christmas merry-go-round to California. I mailed turkey brine to England. And I helped a young mom surprise her son with a 1990’s Lite Brite toy in Pennsylvania.

A woman in Australia bought a beautiful pen and pencil set from us that was handmade from red heart wood by a man in Anchorage, Alaska. She had me ship it to her friend in Texas. It is truly Christmas around the world for me this year.  Each shipment has a story. It is so neat to realize that what I hold in my hand now may soon be in the hand of someone half way around the world. I make it a point to pray for those receiving our treasures.

Every Christmas, there has been one moment when it dawns on me that it is really Christmas. Because of the busyness of the season, sometimes I can rush right through without letting the true meaning of Christmas rest on me. Oh, but when it does, it settles like a soft, gentle, winter snow surrounding me and drawing me into the quietness of the moment.

My Christmas moment happened this past Sunday night. I was headed across the parking lot at church after watching a wonderful presentation of “Come Home For Christmas”. It was a fantastic play directed by my dear friend, Diana Kilgore, and performed by our choir and volunteers at Blue Ridge View Baptist Church. If you would like to receive a blessing, you may like to watch it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In0D4rL8NRc&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR18HsauWs5FVZVILoxeXS7Yohf-7xP8NrNxpDpvDJVcDWRIHqk-t9GVqvw

I was reflecting on the musical and looking back over the last weeks of my crazy busy life. I am in the process of closing one business and starting this new one. In addition, in the last week we had our GITW Christmas Brunch for Moms Who Have Lost Children, followed by our Sunday School Class Christmas Party, a family Christmas party and a Christmas celebration of gift-giving and carols at the nursing home. All of it had been about awesomely Christmas, but I was so busy running around doing life and making Christmas happen that I had not been still enough to let Christmas truly happen to me.

Right there in the parking lot, it settled on me like that soft snow I was talking about. I felt a peace poured out on me that could only be Christmas. … Wait for it … Here it comes …

Christmas is about CHRIST, and He loves me so much!

The Master of the Universe humbled Himself to be born as a tiny baby in a dirty manger. There is no lower place on earth to be born. He left the majesty of Heaven to come solely to be an example for us, and to give His life so that we could live with Him and our loved ones in Heaven one day for eternity. He did all that for us. And He walks with us through this journey every day, getting us by one day at a time. It is more than a realization, it is a peace that passes all understanding for those who believe in Jesus.

Right there I experienced Christmas, and all I had to do was be still. Be still and know that it is Christmas. The Holy Spirit did the rest.

Now I cannot promise that I won’t get busy again. We have last minute shopping, and family gatherings, and cooking, and cleaning, and planning, and wrapping, and rushing. Ok, I am doing it again. STOP IT!

Amid the rush this year, I solemnly promise I will make every effort to stop and let that soft snow of Christmas fall on me. Will you join me? Let’s remember that holy night so many years ago when the silence was broken only by a baby’s cry—a Holy Baby who came to save the world. He came to save me. He came to save you. Be still and know…

Dear Lord: Forgive us that, in our busyness, we sometimes lose focus on the true meaning of Christmas. May we never be too busy to remember that You loved us so much that You sent Your only Son for us. Help us to be still and know that You are God, and that Jesus is Your Son and the Way, the Truth and the Life. Thank You for Your indescribable gift. May the light of His love fill our hearts this Christmas, and overflow to everyone around us.  Amen

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23

Is there a moment this year when you realized, “It’s Christmas!”? Please share your thoughts, experiences and comments.

Thank you for reading and sharing my blogpost today. May you and your family be blessed with the merriest of Christmases this year. Let it settle on you like a peaceful winter snow, and then you will know … It’s Christmas!