I think this is the first Christmas where I wont be in Minneapolis, my usual “home for the holidays.” As I chatted with various friends who live in a different state from their childhood home or where-their-parents-live home, there is something satisfying about traveling to somewhere for Christmas because it feels like an adult thing to do. This year, I’m celebrating Christmas feeling very adult-like and making holiday memories on your own as I am by “heading for, Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie.”
This got me thinking about Christmas songs and how there really seems to be a song for everyone at every life stage or situation. They are a constant and show us how we’ve changed, grown from the year before and meet us wherever we are for the season. Many songs are the same every year with artists making them their own. (Michael Buble, I love you but leave Ava Maria for Josh Groban.) But more then ever this year, they feel like old friends to me that are unchanging but show me how I’ve changed. That’s why they are so special.
“I’ll be home for Christmas… if only in my dreams” is a bittersweet reminder to me how some people cannot be truly there in person as I am unable to be with my parents, sisters, brother and nephews and nieces.
Another thing that is unchanging of the holidays is God’s love for us. The Christmas story was the beginning of a hopeful, 33 year, life story of a perfect man and the beginning of a hopeful story for the imperfect mankind; us! I’m so thankful that even though my love for God and this story over the year ebbs and flows throughout the year, God’s love for me does not. Christmastime is a reminder that God sent his son and “sends” him to us every year. He died for my sins so I can be free from death. Free from guilt, free from fear. I can be free to create, love and live. My worth is in Christmastime, my worth is in Christ! So Merry Christmas…“His power and glory evermore proclaim!”
What is your Christmas “theme” song this year?
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