So This Is Christmas

This is the first year Craig and I haven't made it back to Middle America to celebrate Christmas with snow, family, and starry skies. We've always gone back. Even on years when we couldn't really afford to and probably shouldn't have. The thought of staying put and celebrating Christmas on the beach with sun and sand and palm trees used to make me cry.

This year was different. We told family a year ago that we wouldn't be coming back for this Christmas, and I was prepared to be sad and lonely when the day finally arrived. Praise God I wasn't at all. Yes, I missed seeing Great Grandpa Joe dressed in a reindeer hat. Yes, I missed the snow (kind of). Yes, I missed playing Christmas carols with my li'l sis. But Christmas came as it always does, and even though the whole holiday snuck up on me and I never made any Christmas cookies and did a pathetic job with cards, it still felt like Christmas. Craig's parents flew out to be with us, and Evelyn had fun tearing into everyone's packages, and close friends came over for the traditional fondue brunch, and new friends from Italy and Lubbock, Texas showed up, and I baked a pie and spent more time in the kitchen on Christmas than I've ever had to before in my life. We drove around to look at Christmas lights and we went to a musical Christmas Eve service. We played group party games and took Evelyn to the park. We shopped and ate and slept. And we loved the sun and sand and palms.

The whole season this year made me think about Christmas in a new way. I thought of a speaker I'd recently heard describe the first Christmas all her children were grown up and out of state for the holiday. I remembered how she said she and her husband went out to dinner Christmas Eve and had to leave early because all she could do was weep. I thought of all my family I was missing. I realized that the year may come when I don't even have Evelyn or Craig with me to celebrate. And I thought how--despite what the world may tell you--Christmas isn't really about family at all. It's a time to be with family, yes. But Christmas is about Christ. And you can always have Him, no matter where you are.