The Most Important Part

Liam knows where his Christmas presents are.  We didn't do a very good job of sneaking them into the house and he figured it out right away.  He's even seen the bags in our closet, but he hasn't looked at them yet.  Allen pointed out that if he sees them ahead of time he won't have a surprise.  I told him that if he sees his presents they'll explode.  He wanted to know why.  Allen told him that there's an "anti-Liam" guarding them.  That discussion got pretty bogged down.

At some point I have to actually wrap presents.  And we have to let Liam help wrap the presents "he" got for us - although we haven't taken him shopping this year.  He's going to be disappointed when he realizes that he isn't going to get to do that.  We already tried to explain that some things will be different this year because of the baby. I'll say.  Last year we made home made wrapping paper and candle holders.  This year what doesn't fit into gift bags and leftover paper will be wrapped in tissue paper and newsprint - which may or may not be quickly scribbled on with a half dried out marker.

We're trying to figure out when to go see "Lights at the Zoo."  It's something else we do every year.  I figure it beats driving around looking for people's home decorations and we have a zoo membership anyways.  But the weather is cold and wet and we have miserable colds.

Today at church the pastor was talking about some of the seedier aspects of Jesus' lineage.  Tamar and Rahab and King David, to name a few.  People who were not exactly upstanding citizens but are part of the redemption story.  I was thinking of other ways that the Christmas story was not really as "shiny" as we think of it.  Of the fear Mary must have felt in having her first baby away from home without the help of familiar women.  Of how tired she must have been when some dirty, smelly (probably ceremonially unclean - but then a woman who just gave birth most likely was too) shepherds traipsed in to see the baby.  I was thinking how must likely the "wise men" didn't come that very night, but some time while Mary and Joseph were waiting for their part in the census to be completed.  Who knows if the family was still staying in the "stable" at the "inn" (both probably bad translations, giving us a mistaken idea of how the first "Christmas" looked). 

But almost for sure Mary was still tired.  Jesus would still have been a baby - breastfeeding, teething, sleeping in impossibly short intervals.  The Bible says she "treasured" the events in her heart.  I get that part.  My babies were born in hospitals with trained professionals and extended family nearby to help.  It was exhausting and overwhelming and scary.  But also a time to treasure and remember - through the blur of fatigue and the ache of effort.

Liam likes to tell me lately that "people are more important than...." you name it - usually things - computers, laundry, dishes.  I get frustrated and tell him that most of the time I'm choosing between people and people.  It's Devin's desire for contact (most often) versus Liam's desire to put up Christmas decorations or versus our need to eat to stay alive or our need to have clothes to wear.  Everything is crying out for attention and energy and I don't have much.

But when it comes to Christmas, the trick is figuring out how to make these good "things" bring us closer to the people who are important to us.  Making sure that they point us to the grace and love of the savior and that they are moments that we can treasure in our hearts - in spite of the exhaustion and the effort.  I'm not sure how well that's working out for us at this point.  I guess time will tell.