A slightly different Christmas

So my house is quiet now, everyone else (dogs included) is taking some time to catch a well deserved nap. And in the quiet I am struck by several things this Christmas. First is the fact that it is the first without my mom, and while I certainly miss her I am not sad. My friend Juls suggested that we start a tradition of collecting angel ornaments for the tree in honor of mom and for this year we got an ornament that is simply a pair of angel wings to remind us that our angel is missing from us but celebrating Jesus' birthday with him. I am also struck but just how amazing that babe in the straw was. I was talking with my friend Peter the other day and he said he recently been struck by the total compassion and heart of Jesus. Christmas is such an awesome expression of that. Imagine giving up your warm home and family to go be born in a garage to fix a relationship with people who really didn't give a rat's butt about you. Would you do it? I know I probably wouldn't leave the trailer on Grassdale St. to do it, much less leave heaven. Yet Jesus decided that he loved me, and you, enough to give all that up and fix a relationship that we had messed up. The presents, food, music and all the other things we associate with Christmas are nice, but they should never cause us to lose sight of the reason we celebrate it. Merry Christmas to all of you and may that babe in the straw be born anew in your heart today.

On a side note, please say a prayer this Christmas for my friend Tiffy, she's had a rough one and could use them.