On the Hunt for Christmas

I love the holidays. I love everything about the Christmas season. For a person who delights in the little things, Christmas time is delight overload and it's magical and wonderful.

... the twinkle lights ... the baking ... the gingerbread houses ... the Christmas parties ... the shopping ... the decorations ... the gift wrapping ... the bows ... the nativity scenes ... the peppermint everything ... the music and carols ... everything Christmas ... it's simply delightful

Since my friends and I were fifteen we have been having the same annual Christmas party. It's always at Katie's house and it's always full of some of my favorite memories. We have continued the tradition since all going our different directions in college and each break I always look forward to the party that brings us all back together.

For a little trip down memory lane...

2006: We were fifteen and sophomores and knew not a care in the world.

2007: We were sixteen and growing up and didn't know how to pose for pictures.

2008: We were seventeen and seniors and never got a whole group picture...

2009: We were eighteen and freshmen in college and crazier than ever.

2010: We were nineteen and loving college.

2011: We were twenty and getting old and tackier than ever.

The memories have been plentiful and I am so thankful for each person in each one of these pictures. Some friends have come in and out and then some other friends have been there from the beginning. Some of them know me better than any other people ever will because we have been together for so long.

And each year, the night before the Christmas party all of the girls come to my house to bake cookies.

Meet Danielle, Paige, Caitlin, Pooja, Katie, and Sam.

My besties since I was thirteen... kind of hard to believe.

Needless to say, the traditions do not end there. That is what I love about Christmas time. It is full of traditions and in turn, full of memories. Each year I look forward to Christmas beginning in October (but I do decline any Christmas celebrations until after Thanksgiving).

This year is different though. 

It doesn't feel like Christmas. It doesn't feel like the holidays. And the parties just aren't the same.

And boy let me tell you, I have tried to make it feel like Christmas...

I have tried nearly every Christmas-y drink at Starbucks. I have driven around to look at Christmas lights. I have had the music playing since the day after Thanksgiving. I have made the shopping lists. I have gone to Dave Barnes and Friends Christmas concert. I have sent out the Christmas cards. I have baked the Christmas cookies. I have kept my mom company as she has wrapped countless gifts.

I have really tried...

And on top of it all, the annual friends Christmas party just isn't quite the same this year. We're getting older and the family obligations are increasing. More of us seem to be traveling or seem to have people that are calling us other places. So this year, rather than the usual party, we're doing dinner at a nice restaurant all together. We're getting old and this is the last Christmas that it's guaranteed that we'll all be in Greensboro.

So it doesn't feel like Christmas. It just doesn't. And I have been a little bummed. Well actually, a lot bummed... because I love this time of year so much and it has been kind of a let down.

But in this season of not quite delight with Christmas, I have been able to see the truth... the real truth.

And the truth is that Christmas is not about the lights, the parties, the cookies, the shopping, and all of the music. It is not about all the things that have brought me so much delight in the past.

Christmas is about the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and is about finding delight in Him. 

So that is where my focus is this year... on the birth of a child that completely turned the world upside down.

The Christmas story is so often told just like that... as a story. It is romanticized and told in a way that is often distant from our beings now. But the reality is that our lives were forever changed the moment that Jesus was welcomed onto the earth in a stable in Bethlehem. The Christmas story is not distant at all, it is the gospel.

Jesus' birth changed everything. He is Immanuel... God with us. There is something so incredibly beautiful about that... God with us... God... with ... us... 

God came to earth as a man and lived a perfect, sinless life. He died on the cross for our sins and was the ultimate sacrifice. He then defeated death and overcame the grave. Jesus has made us all new through the cross and the resurrection.

God came to earth Himself to be our savior. He is no longer a distant judge who we cannot commune with, but is God with us. Jesus Christ came to be trusted, leaned on, communed with, and walked with.

We now walk with God because Jesus Christ was born.

And in that, I will find my delight this season. My delight is in Immanuel... God with us. 

So it might not feel like my usual Christmas, but that is okay. I am making it my goal to spend the rest of this holiday season simply reflecting on what it means that Jesus is God with us. I challenge you to do the same.