Christmas

I don't remember a busier Christmas season. Beginning December 4, I had something going on most every night: my usual array of meetings along with parties, concerts, and special events. For a year that will go down as the fastest on record, I suppose it is only fitting that December should have flown by at warp speed.

In the quiet of this spring-like afternoon in West Chicago, it is a joy to reflect on Christmas as I listen to old U2 records. Julie and the kids are in Orange City. My siblings are back into their respective routines. Parents are well. Everyone is fine. Light shines. It's going to be okay.

After worship on Christmas morning, we raced off to Cedar Falls to see the whole family and celebrate together:

Mom & Dad running the show and managing some semblance of order amidst 10 adults and 12 wound-up kids.

Jim in his typical sartorial splendor (he has a bit of the southern gentleman in him).

Jen joyfully enjoying the moment...polished, professional, but still funny.

Tuck somehow holding together a hipster/intellectual/clown role.

Me. I don't know. I've always wanted to be a bit like my siblings. I have a tendency to go back in time, so that any time I visit my parents I am once again 13 years old. Strangely, while there are glimpses of that same youth in my siblings they have, for the most part, matured. They act their age and are who they are, influenced by what I remember them being, but increasingly different (in a good way).

Here's my over-riding takeaway from Christmas 2012: my parents, siblings, and all of our kids actually believe the story is true. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Born to a virgin in 1st century Palestine. The Son of God. The Messiah. Jesus Christ.

So, we celebrated the birth of Jesus--the divine Word entering our world in the person of Jesus.