Merry CHRISTmas!

Well, here we are. It’s Christmas Eve, and we have done everything we can to help Santa get ready for the big day! There have been parties to go to, and Christmas plays or cantatas to attend, and last minute shopping (stocking stuffing) to do. And didn’t we only get up from the Thanksgiving dinnertable a couple of days ago? At least, it seems that way.

Did you ever wonder why the month (give or take a few days sometimes) between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to pass so quickly? Seems like you clean up the kitchem from eating Thanksgiving dinner, and its time to cook that Christmas turkey or ham. I know it seems that way at my house, anyway. What happens to that time that used to pass so slowly when we were children? I am finding out that what my own Mother used to tell me is really true….the older you get, the quicker the time passes. And she was right, again.

I was in Walmart very early this morning, finishing my stocking stuffing before I came to work. the associates were busily trying to straighten and restock shelves that looked like they had been hit by a tornado. I stopped for a moment to talk with one of them, and asked her about her day. She said that she was going to be getting off at 1, so that wasn’t too bad. I told her that I probably would get off around the same time, too. Before I left her, I wished her a Merry Christmas, and she wished me the same.

As I was pushing my cart up the different aisles, there were a few people in the store. Some looked hurried, but most we casually strolling through and looking at different things. The one thing I DID notice was, most of them had smiles on their faces. One man had such a grin as he wished me a Merry Christmas that I almost felt like I had just run into one of Santa’s elves! But that smile was contagious. It lifted my spirits as I went on throught the store, and made me feel like he genuinely was feeling the Christmas spirit. that made the rest of my own shopping trip more pleasurable.

When I got to the checkouts, due to the early hour, there were only about 5 out of 33 lanes open. I had half an hour to get out and get to work. there were two people in front of me, and one of them had a pretty big order. I thought for a minute of trying to look for another lane to go to, but then decided that I was not in that big of a hurry, and still had plenty of time to make it to work on time. When my turn came, the lady who waited on me looked tired, and so I smiled at her and wished her a very Merry Christmas. Her face lit up, and she smiled the rest of the way through my order, and was still smiling as she started on the next person’s order.

We all know that Christmas Eve is a day that many wait for to shop, and the stores are crowded with people who are looking for those last minute bargains. And some, like me, who just love to save a little bit until then in order to be out in the hustle and bustle fo it all. But this morning, it seemed to be more than that. I don’t know if it is because of the kind of year this country has had, or worries about what is ahead, both for the country, and for individuals themselves, but, everyone seemed tohave a purpose this morning. And most of us who were out at that time (6:30) were in a good mood, and enjoying it all.

If I feel this way now, I can’t begin to imagine how those shepherds must have felt when the angels appeared to them in the night sky 2000 years ago. What a present they got! As did we all. Don’t you think that, after the initial fear, they had smiles on their faces a mile wide?

Merry CHRISTmas, everyone! God bless you!