I love it all! I love everything about this miraculous, melodic, much-anticipated season of the year. I love the cards that arrive daily flooding my mailbox with heartfelt greetings from friends and family from lon g ago and far away.
I love the calorie-laden goodies and the family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. I love knowing that when I make the fresh cranberry jello in preparation for Christmas dinner, that I am holding the same recipe that my grandmother held over 50 years ago.
I love the smell of Christmas! My heart melts at the fragrance of the evergreen and peppermint and cinnamon that flood my home from the days before Thanksgivingright through to New Year’s Day.
I love giving gifts to those I know the best and love the most. Even I, a woman who thinks that shopping is a waste of time, can’t wait to hear the delight in my children’s and grandchildren’s voices on Christmas morning. I love the childlike wonder that wraps itself around even the cynical world of entertainment.
I love the music … oh! How I love the music of Christmas. Even now, I could weep thinking about the lyrics of the songs that are particular only to Christmas.
“Mary, did you know that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod? When you kiss your little Baby, you kissed the face of God!”
“Immanuel! God is with us! And if God is with us, who could stand against us?! Our God is with us, Immanuel!”
“I will hold you in the beginning, You will hold me in the end, every moment in the middle, make my heart Your Bethlehem, be born in me!”
“Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!”
But what I love the most about Christmas is the story itself. I am breathless and humbled with the realization that, like Mary, I have been chosen to carry the Christ-child to my lonely world.
I am in awe and wonder, with the shepherds, that the joy of heaven would explode into the darkness of planet earth.
I am exploding with exuberant worship with the Magi that I am invited to bow before the Infant King. The most wonderful part of this miraculous season is that I have been invited to participate in a Christmas that never ends but wasintended to be celebrated 365 days of the year!
What do you love most about Christmas?
Carol McLeod
Carol is a best-selling author and popular speaker at women’s conferences and retreats, where she teaches the Word of God with great joy and enthusiasm. Carol encourages and empowers women with passionate and practical biblical messages mixed with her own special brand of hope and humor. Click here To learn more about Carol. We are excited to announce Carol will be speaking at MBolden Ministry Women’s Conference in March.