I remember, years ago, on Christmas Eve, listening to a staticky radio update on the jolly old elf’s progress from the North Pole. I was transfixed until the next update. It was, of course, a central, and magical, part of this special season. A decorated tree in the living room (you should have seen how all the hanging tinsel shimmered, reflecting the colored lights!), a kitchen filled with the yummiest of smells, mysteriously coded messages between parents, brightly-wrapped packages suddenly appearing around the base of that tree, and a combination of weeks of intensifying excitement and sugar-highs guaranteed that sleeping would be difficult that night. But ‘he’ wouldn’t come unless we were asleep! Oh, the agony!
As one in a family of steady churchgoers, I knew the Christmas story. We had a Sunday School Christmas Program every year that closed with a visit from the chubby, white-bearded gift-giver (who looked a lot like George Beverley from our church, come to think of it) handing out brown paper bags filled with candy for all the kids. The whole big story, with all its unrelated parts and characters, meshed as one in my mind.
It was challenging, later, to sort out the real bits from the storybook ones. Actually, I was quite afraid all the warm fuzzies of the season would vanish if I succeeded in separating fact from fiction. Here was my 5-year-old dilemma – I liked the romantic, make-believe part, with all its presents and candies and cakes and school holidays, better than the dry, big person, Sunday morning part (I had a lot to learn!).
Turns out, the real story is about a Gift-giver after all. A gift-giver offering more, all at once, than the make-believe fat guy could ever match – ever. And the real gift is so crazy good that all the adjectives in the world can’t fully describe it (you know I’ve tried). And you know what else? The real gift comes with an eternal, 100% guarantee of satisfaction. And something else, too, this gift is so good, and so big, it takes a whole lifetime of real-life experiences to know its truth. And, oh yeah, this gift is unbreakable, never gets old, never needs a system upgrade. And one final thing. Our gift has a name. That name? JESUS. Merry 6th Day of Christmas, y’all. PD