Transparency.

Oh, I love traditions! I particularly love traditions that began out of necessity with no real intention of becoming traditions. So our Christmas Eve "dinner" brings a smile to my face every year. Because we are passionate about making Christmas Eve services available to all who are open to hearing the Good News of Christmas, we are often at church most of the afternoon and evening. Having our sit down fancy dinner is just out of the question, so several years ago we let the kids plan a quick-fix menu. Everybody gets to add two things to this amazing smorgasbord and over the years we have had quite the unique variety. This year it looks like this:

The Menu:
Key Lime pie (that's for me! And I actually made it the other day and resisted the urge to taste test.)
Chocolate covered strawberries
Sugar and Gingerbread cookies
Fritos
Cinnamon Rolls (Pioneer Woman's freeze really well. Thank goodness.)
Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Shrimp (also for me. And always on the Christmas Eve menu.)
Flavor Blasted Cheese Goldfish
Sweet Potato Fries with cinnamon yogurt dip
Rotel dip and chips
Summer sausage, cheese and crackers
Hot Chocolate with spray whipped cream
And of course a birthday cake for Jesus. This year it's a "J" candy cane. Red Velvet. I think He'll like that.

Now, in the spirit of transparency, this is what was behind me in that picture:

Honestly, I don't think the picture does it justice. There's powdered sugar on the counter, not an open spot on any surface, the sink is full of nastiness that is going to be gross to clean up. The "quick-fix" label was, well, deceiving. So I'm scurrying around like a crazy woman trying to get everything hot and on the table while kids are whining that they're hungry and I'm leaving debris around me like a Tasmanian devil. Merry Christmas Eve.

And then I thought that maybe that's the transparency I'm supposed to get on Christmas. That this precious Baby lying in a manger in the silent of night as the world slept was leaving a whirlwind of upheaval in the Heavenly realm that was soon to make its way to the ears of Herod. But more than that, God's bursting into human Flesh disrupted the human condition.

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining, til He appeared and the soul felt its worth."

And what a disruption. One we don't even know we need until we see the beauty of what it brings. A table set for us with all our favorite things.The work that He has done to restore us to Himself that we may see Him. That pulls us out of our own chaos and whining and longing for something more and bigger and better and fulfilling and offers that very Thing which brings peace for us. The beauty of Himself.

"Light of the world You stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes let me see beauty that made this heart adore You."

So I'll deal with the mess I left - because it was worth it. And I'll do it again next year. Because it was born out of necessity.

"O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray; cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today."

"Jesus Split the Line..."

I have this treasure from the pen of my great-grandfather:  his journal from 1909-10 as he traveled in a covered wagon to stake his land in an Oklahoma land run. Yes. I know how extremely cool that is!

Nestled in the entries about how to get a wagon across the quicksand in the Red River (I'm fully prepared should I ever encounter this dilemma), opinions on prohibition and a detailed description of a breath-taking cave in SE Oklahoma, is this little jewel. Here is what he wrote about Christmas 1910:

Christmas at our present time surely does not mean what it did many years ago. For with me, and I guess everyone is similar to myself in this respect, I look upon it as a holiday and think but little more of it than any of the others; other than it the most prominent. And even its prominence may be due in a great measure to the fact that it is so very ancient. People down here are celebrating it very much as the 4th of July is celebrated up with us. Even our 4th celebrations are discounted for three fourths of the people here get drunk. If the divinity of Christ is unmistakable, Xmas should mean more than this. I have been wondering if there wasn't a special significance in having all dates reflect back to the birth of Christ; if this is the real state of affairs then we can see the completeness and simplicity of the Creator's Plan. The custom is so firmly established that every civilized person has suggested to his mind that there is a Savior whether he accepts it or not; and this same suggestion is made every time his age or date in history is referred to. We can see how unconsciously this realization of a Savior might be bred into one's life.... I humbly confess that it hasn't been over two years since I fully realized for the first time that when I gave the date of my birth, I gave that of Christ's as well.

Oh, to be so mindful of Emmanuel...

This coming, this advent, this Flesh covering of The Word, "split the line at the turning point of time." And when have I marveled that the right hand lower corner of my computer keeps track of that moment in time that changed everything? Down to the minute. The very second. Instead, I'm rushing to make returns and grab another gift and sag my shoulders at the many still to decide on and frustrated that I have no idea what will bless the recipients in the ways I wish to bless them. And so I shake my head and make another list and bark at the kids to pick up their own stuff so I don't trip over it because I don't have time for a cast on my leg. Oh, if the divinity of Christ is unmistakable, Xmas should mean more than this.