One of my favorite Christmas memories was the year I wrapped “A Countdown to Christmas” with The Twelve Books of Christmas for my son. Every night before bed, he would unwrap a book and we would read it together. Each book had a different theme and different storyline, but I found myself explaining in each book how Jesus teaches us to do these same things. One of his favorite series when he was young was “Little Blue Truck,” a series about how this little blue truck helps his friends in different situations…

O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thy justice here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Many of our beloved and favored Christmas Carols center around the nighttime and darkness. Carols such as Away in aManger, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, O Little Town of Bethlehem, The First Noel, and Silent Night sing of the holy and sacred night when Christ was born. For me, it is poignant that Christ was not born in broad daylight when all kinds of human activity would create all kinds of distraction from this holy moment…