The Year I Couldn't Save Christmas
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I wouldn't say that was our best Christmas ever, but it was a memorable one, and we got through it together.
This year, while I gather with my kids and my new husband, and two sons-in-law, and four amazing grandsons around our majestic, fragrant, color-coordinated fir, I hope I can hang on to what I learned that year when I couldn't put up a tree.
First, I cannot save Christmas. I can't ruin it either, and I can't make it happen. I don't have that power. It comes no matter what I do. It doesn't depend on me.
I also learned that year that Christmas isn't a magic antidote for trouble. Carols and twinkly lights don't erase the pain of a fractured family or a foreclosure or a diagnosis or a pink slip, and we set ourselves up for discouragement if we expect that. And yet Christmas still comes, no matter what is going on with us. Emmanuel is still God with Us, right in the middle of all our pain.
And finally, I learned to make room in my heart for surprise, because we just can't predict how the Christ child will appear in our lives. I never expected my Christmas highlight to be a scruffy little children's tree in an otherwise depressing house. Jesus' people never expected a messiah in a manger. Christmas always comes, but not always the way we thought it would—which means our most important Christmas task may be to watch and wait for Christ to come. Again. And for the miracle of Christmas to happen—no matter what.
Tammy Maltby is a speaker and author of The Christmas Kitchen and The God Who Sees You. www.tammymaltby.com
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Jan B
I have three close friends who lost loved ones over the Christmas holiday. The other day I was thinking how sad it is that these deaths occurred so close to Christmas. Then the thought came to mind, how much sadder death would be if it were not for the birth of Jesus. It put a different perspective on it for me. Thanks for this article.
Vicci Cook
This reminds me of a Christmas season 5 years ago when my husband passed away quite suddenly leaving me, his 18-year-old son and our handicapped daughter behind. It was all I could do to smile during that Christmas and even the following one. I'll always equate Christmas with the passing of my husband, but it hasn't dampened my enthusiasm for it. It's all the giving and the love behind the season, and the unspeakable gift of God's son, that makes it joyful.
Johnese Burtram
Thank God for the tanicity of Emmanuel - God with us. Where meek souls will receive Him, still, the dear Christ enters in.
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