When we
moved to Florida one of the things I asked myself is, “How would we enjoy the
anticipation of Christmas when it just doesn’t look or feel like the Christmas
I’ve celebrated in New Jersey for 67 of my 68 years?”
The gloomy days I love that feel like snow is
in the air are absent. No snow at all is
predicted in the Florida forecast, not a flake!
Christmas decorations are turning up on businesses and at the mall but
my brain just can’t handle it. It’s
sunny and warm and everything is still so green! Instead of sweaters, socks and closed shoes, I’m
still wearing sandals and capris and short sleeve shirts, and using the AC in
my car. It can’t be nearly December!
My daughter
Becky and I have talked about this quite a bit because we just love the weeks
leading up to Christmas and the weather – it’s chilliness, it’s gloom, the
threat of snow – all of it contributes to the sense of excitement and
anticipation. There’s a feeling in the
air in December that generates joy. She
and I are happy in our baking and shopping and wrapping and thinking of what to
give neighbors and friends and family for Christmas. But here in Florida it doesn’t FEEL like
Christmas at all!
I had
determined that when we came here I was going to take this change in
traditional Christmas weather in stride.
I decided that I was going to remember that first Christmas. We celebrate Christmas in December but many
say that Jesus was probably born in the spring.
Why do they say that? In that
part of the world in winter, it would be unlikely that shepherds would be out
in the field keeping watch over their flocks.
It’s too cold.
And of
course, Jesus wasn’t born in a climate like that of New Jersey. It was desert like, dry, and warm. I picture green shrubs and trees, maybe some
palm trees too. Kind of like Florida
(only it rains a lot more here).
But then the
reality of the incarnation of Jesus gripped me as I listened to Christmas
carols on my Christian radio station. Christmas
isn’t about the anticipation of snow. It
isn’t about a chill in the air. It isn’t
about presents, or baking cookies, or Christmas trees, or wreaths. It doesn’t matter if chestnuts are roasting
on an open fire. Christmas is about the
coming of Jesus!
There is
nothing more wonderful, nothing more highly anticipated than the celebration of
the coming of my Savior.
If it never
snows another flake. If I never get
another present. If I never bake another
cookie. Whether it’s cold or hot, gloomy
or sunny, nothing changes this awesome FACT:
Jesus came on that night more than 2000 years ago and nothing will ever
be the same. EVER.
