What do you say about Christmas when you’re just not in the
Christmas mood? It’s hard to get
into the Christmas Spirit when Christmas doesn’t look like it is supposed to in
your mind. I live here in the
desert southwest, and it doesn’t look like the Christmases from my
childhood. My childhood
Christmases were always white, cold and surrounded by family. My memories are filled with
snowball fights, skating on frozen ponds, sledding, making snow forts and
watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the 447th time. Now the only thing that seems to be the
same is that I’m watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” for the 4,447th
time and I have added “Elf” for the 151st time to that tradition.
Now if you know me at all, at this point you are saying, “Who
are you trying to kid!?” After
all, I grew up in south Texas on the border in the land of 80 degrees for
Christmas. I mean it only snowed
three times in Eagle Pass when I was growing up and only once did it ever stick
to the ground. We had tamales
instead of sugar plums. We
didn’t even have any other family that lived in Texas. So just what Christmas memories am I
talking about?
Well, being missionaries, Christmas was one of the only times
we got to travel back and see my parent’s families. So most Christmases were spent in Durango, Colorado or the
Kansas City, Missouri area. I grew
up with my Christmases being surrounded by countless uncles, aunts,
grandparents and more cousins than I can even remember names for. So, spending my Christmas now in El
Paso just seems off and honestly doesn’t feel like Christmas…UNTIL TODAY!!!!
WOW!!! Can you believe it? This is the view from my back
window. It is snowing like crazy. And something else crazy is happening,
as the snow keeps falling from the sky, memories of Christmas are beginning to
flood my mind…and now tears! Thank
you Jesus for these wonderful memories; memories that had for long been
forgotten.
My grandparents have all passed away. All of us cousins are all grown up now
with families of our own, and without grandparents to go back and visit, we
haven’t seen each other in years.
My brother and sister’s families are all grown up and have their own
Christmas traditions. The busyness
of life has spread us out all over the place.
As I stare out my dining room window, I know that my heart
should be breaking because all of this snow means that so many of my neighbors
across the border living in shacks are now freezing cold and wet, but somehow
today I am thankful for the snow.
I am thankful for the memories that have been restored, refreshed and
revisited.
This all makes me think of a seldom visited verse in the
Bible, Luke 2:51; “But his(Jesus) mother treasured all these things in her heart.” We all have memories that we
treasure. I challenge you this
Christmas season to build some new memories. Be intentional!
What can you do this Christmas season to build memories that will last a
lifetime? As for my family (me, my
wife and daughter), we are going to go build a house for a family in need in
Acuna, Mexico…and in the process build a memory.
Merry Christmas!
-David
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