Real Life Reflections

I love the Christmas season - the festive decorations, the Christmas parties, the family gatherings, the traditions, the joy that abounds. When I've been asked what my favorite day of the year is, I answer without pause: the twenty-four hours that begin around 4:00 on Christmas Eve. To me, those hours are sacred, reserved for just our family - what used to be "the four of us" and is now "the eight of us." During that time, work and business cease, no telemarketers call, no neighborhood child tries to sell us cookie dough or popcorn, laundry and errands can wait. This is time for us. I'll make our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Christmas music playing in the background, the tree twinkling with joy, the presents below it fairly bursting with the need to be opened. The guys work on a jigsaw puzzle or play dominoes or cards. The girls help me in the kitchen. We talk. We laugh. We love. We eat dinner by candlelight, then attend Christmas Eve service. B