Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. – Luke 2: 11
Growing up in the 1950’s our family was very poor, but as a child, I didn’t realize it. Christmas was an extremely difficult time for my mother. As a sole provider for five children, she always worked a second job at night during the holiday season to make ends meet. However, my memories of Christmas as a young child are priceless because she always made it special.
Memories consist of the entire family loading up in a four-door sedan with rope and a hacksaw and heading out in the cold wind (sometimes snow) to a pasture where we would find what I thought was always the perfect cedar tree. My dad or mom would saw it down and bring it home tied on the roof of the car. Decorations consisted of popcorn strung on thread (what didn’t get eaten of course), a few shiny bright ornaments, one string of lights, and the strands of silver tinsel. Mom would insist we hang them one by one on each branch rather than standing back and tossing a handful of them. It sure wasn’t as much fun, but I’ll admit it looked much nicer. The last ornament was a gold star without lights, and with me being the youngest, I got to put it on top of the tree (with help of course). I remember laying in the floor looking up at the tree, wishing it could be there all the time. I loved the smell of the tree and the lights shining on the tinsel.
There were never any presents under the tree until Christmas morning, because Santa was bringing them. The anticipation on Christmas Eve was so high, I sometimes knew I heard Santa’s reindeer landing on the roof or the jingle of bells from his sleigh. On Christmas, I would run down the stairs and there they were, five presents from Santa, one for each of us and, of course, the homemade gifts to Mom from each of her children. Our gifts were not wrapped, and no names were on them. We all knew which ours was because it was that one special gift we had asked for!
As Christians, we know we have the opportunity to enter into the mystery of Jesus’ birth during Advent. If we embrace Advent, we will find our celebration of Jesus’ coming in Bethlehem filled with wonder and awe, just like I did in the anticipation of Christmas. Then on Christmas morning, we will receive God’s one special gift to us – Christ the Lord!
Rev. Connie Barnett, Asbury Campus Pastor
