When All is Said and Done...

 The packages are wrapped, cookies and goodies are made, the groceries are procured and the larder is packed good and full.
The littles are scurrying and not quite sure while they can't quite settle down.
Smiles come a bit easier and generosity is contagious.
Familiar locations look festive with their holiday decor.  Even the bathroom bears the insignia of gaiety, smallish trees and bright red ribbons.  Neighbors visit, bearing goods and words that never seem to get shared at any other time of the year.  Cards and wishes are sent miles away that would normally be stalled out on some To Do list.

Why?
Simple.
It's All About the Baby.

The flurry of excitement that fills a family as the expectation of a New Life, is palpable through the miles. In the most modest of homes, celebration for a new member is acknowledged if not able to be wildly celebrated.
It just is the Joy of the Freshly Born that fills all of us, with few exception, with wonder, hope and anticipation of what the next generation shall bring.

And on Christmas, we all get to share the Wildly Exciting Expectancy of The One that will save us from this crumbly thing call The World. Leave it to an Almighty God to package His Savior in a small, newborn baby, knowing how we just cannot resist the freshness that is a infant.  We are drawn inexplicably to the joy that the Newborn of Christmas represents.  How else would this crazy season of Good Will survive in the midst of all the turmoil that this globe struggles with?  Why else would we be so enamored with the season if we realized that it would all be over in couple weeks?  We know, oh yes, we know, that the Spirit that exists in jolly December is available all the time, everywhere, to everyone, deep within our hearts.

But make no mistake, this sweet little Newborn did not stay that way and He is not done with us.  When He returns, we will all certainly recognize Him in all His royal, regal, majestic entrance back to the world that He created and made a plan of saving us from.  Just as an ignored child from a nasty family split, He will remember who attended His life long Birthday Celebration.  It will be interesting.

So as you wrap up your holiday preparations, remember Who the whole hoopla is about and why.  Whether it's the Winter Solstice you celebrate, Kwaanza, Hannukah, or ignore the whole experience, it all comes back to The Birthday Boy.  Every bit of it..

Reflect, peruse and celebrate deep within, the Author of it all......
Most lasting joy and internal peace upon you and yours this Christmas....