Christmas is almost here...

It's getting closer and closer to Christmas and multicoloured and white lights line the streets and edge the houses; they twinkle and blink and glow, brightening up our winter-dark world. The shiny bright sparkle of ornament-covered trees peek through windows and let the neighbourhood know that Christmas is coming. Batches of cookies shaped like stars, trees, wreaths, and angels line up and wait to be iced and packed for gifts or displayed on platters for post-holiday meal snacking. Christmas is coming.

The music of the Season, whether slow and angelic or jazzy and fun, change the mood in every shopping mall and alter which radio presets are more frequently used in December. They tell of Santa coming to town or a reindeer with a rosy nose or a snowman with a silk top hat or of letting it snow. The haunting melodies of the coming Christ-child fill the air with a mystical wonder of how God packaged himself in the delicate arms of a baby to bring us closer to Him and save us. Christmas is coming.

Advent calendars are almost empty, shopping bags are full of surprises and fridges are being stocked for the big feast. The parties have started, with laughter, gift-giving, games and treats...Christmas is coming.

Some may not have as much as others and charity and help and support is being sought out more than any other time of the year. Food drives are asking, community dinners are finalizing their plans and charities remind you to give all around you. Christmas is coming.

Children count down the sleeps until the night they have been waiting for arrives. Parents wrap late into the night. Grandparents travel or prepare their homes for family to arrive. Snow falls anywhere it can and most of us appreciate the soft white glow that makes the night seem brighter. Christmas is coming.

Lists are made and crossed out one item at a time, turkeys thaw and stuffing prepared, carols are chosen for candlelight Christmas Eve services. Pageants are played out with the likeness of all the Nativity characters in makeshift costumes and homemade wings. Christmas is coming.

The star showed the way and angels spread the word. A weary couple stagger into a town where no room but for some hay amoung the animals can be made for them. And then beyond the low murmur of cattle and sheep, with the piercing cry of a newborn, a baby is born in the night.

Christmas has come.

Our Saviour was born without the trill of a trumpet or a wordy and expensive announcement in every newspaper; He came lowly and quiet with only his mother and earthly father and a few animals to share that precious moment.

Christ arrived as a baby, a human child, yet the Son of God.

This year, let Christmas come to you, though your home may be full or your cupboards empty, let Him fill your world with the warmth of what this Season means - a baby was born to save us all!

The Birth of Christ - by Gerard van Honthorst 1622