Can you believe it's only 5 days before Christmas? I can't. It sneaks up on me so fast now that I'm older. When I was little I was counting down all the time and knew exactly how many days away it was. I would wake up in the morning and be so excited to move the little mouse over one day in the green Christmas calendar thing. Mom would put it up each year for me, despite its ugliness. I was never sure whether I should move the mouse to which day in December it was or to move the mouse to how many days left until Christmas. I think I alternated each year. I just always was ready for Christmas, mostly b/c of presents.

Things have changed so much. Now I don't even care about the presents. I'd be fine if my family didn't buy me anything at all. It seems like everywhere people are so worried about who they're obligated to buy gifts for and how much money they need to spend on who still, and so on. It's sad that we've commercialized it so much and forgotten what it really truly means.

I just love the season. I love the excitement. The looking forward to. The smells, the lights, the tastes, the sounds, the warmth. The traditions. Makes me wonder what it was like before the first Christmas--probably somewhat similar, but not in a selfish materialistic sort of way. There had to be so much excitement for the people of Israel to know that a Messiah was coming. The hope of the world was on His way. Their destitution was about to end with the birth of a Savior, Jesus, in the simple form of flesh and blood. Tiny fingers, tiny toes, little eyelashes & fingernails. God, with us. A real person. So fragile and precious, yet so strong, because we know that those little fingers are the ones that created the universe. How incredible. Those hands are the ones that later endured so much pain, and for us! It breaks my heart that a little baby, yet God, would want to go through that for me.

So, Christmas... what does it make you think of? Gifts, of course! I don't think it's wrong to give gifts, b/c they can symbolize something so great, just as long as we don't forget the gift that matters most.

p.s. I wasn't planning to write a "Jesus is the reason for the season" blog, but I suppose that was one. Sorry.