Boxing Day

26 December 2019 (Boxing Day)

The Christmas Moment

My Christmas moment comes when it comes.  What am I saying?  What I am saying is simple.   Each Christmas has a point for me where I really feel Christmas has come, where I sense the spirit of the holiday. My Christmas moment is not a feeling of nostalgia or cloying, “God Bless Us Everyone…White Christmas…you will shoot your eye out,” experience.  My Christmas moment isn’t really nostalgic either.  

What my Christmas moment is usually is a quiet moment, an alone moment, a point where all the madness has dropped off and I feel the wonder of so many people hoping for the best and celebrating with open hearts.  Many years my Christmas moment comes on Christmas Eve when I am the only person in the room with the Christmas tree.  The room is dark except for the tree’s lights and I just rest my mind knowing that good things are afoot. Sitting in a comfortable chair, maybe I have a drink, maybe I don’t, legs under a blanket I just watch the lights and the tree and I sense the feeling that we can have peace. Yes, we have peace if we want it, if we are willing to work for it.

This year my Christmas moment came early.  My Christmas moment came when I was walking home from the Christmas Eve service at Martin Luther Chapel.  It was warmer out, warmer than it has any right to be on December 24^th here in the north country.  As I wandered home, trying to both get my steps in for the day and take in the Christmas lights that surrounded me I decided I needed to do a little Christmas video.  So, there in the parking lot of the community center I turned on my camera and said what I believed about Christmas.  

When I was done, I just walked on and looked at the lights.  I was at peace.  Speaking those words lifted my heart. As I traipsed on, I felt good about the season. The madness that builds as you approach December 25th was over and the sense, we would all be taking a collective breath, we would be on holiday from our worries, our fears, our differences, our anxieties was strong. The ten minutes that it took from when I started the video to when I arrived at the house, that was my Christmas moment this year.

I don’t know if anybody else experiences a moment like this at the year’s end, but I hope they do.  We need that moment of release from the cares of the world to reset our hearts, to reset our psyches.  

Best to you all on this Boxing Day.