Why is Christmas?

George asked me this question on the way to school last week.  I have to say, lately, George's questions have been pretty loaded.  I also have to admit that I haven't really prepared myself to give him the answers I think he needs.

December is always a fun month.  We celebrate Christmas with my cousins, we celebrate my dad's birthday, and Mama Zo's birthday, Zoolight Safari, Christmas at the Alabama Theatre, and Clay and I make a point to do a whole lot just the three of us.  I started to wonder if this is what Christmas is to us- really sweet time with just our family.  

Ever since Nan was born, Jesus is a very real person to George.  So when I answered him that Christmas is because it's Jesus' birthday, I could see the wheels turning in his little brain that we would be going to Jesus' birthday party.  And that has made him so excited for Christmas to get here.  

To be honest, George's anticipation of Jesus' birthday has totally changed my preparation for Christmas, too.  I've really attached myself to traditions, and my favorite Christmas movies, and the parties and build-up to Christmas Day.  I'm not sure I've really celebrated it as Jesus' birth, and the promise of His return.  Thankfully, George is here to keep me in line.

 As much as George loves 'Frosty the Snowman' (which...trust me, is A LOT), he loves talking about the Nativity, and reading our Christmas books about Jesus' birth.  Just about everytime I put him to sleep he requests the same story from his storybook Bible (I tell you...that kiddo is a creature of habit).  He wants to hear the story of Jesus' birth, and frankly (and ashamedly) I sort of got tired of reading it.  But I obliged this "one last time" and started the story for the 40th time.  I got to the part where Gabriel appears to Mary, and the angel is described as a "messenger from Heaven", and George turned to me and said, "Just like Sissy, Mommy!"

Even as I type this, I get a little lump in my throat that my two-year-old son gets it better than I do.  Nan is our 'messenger of Heaven', because certainly no one has taught us more about God's Kingdom than our sweet daughter.  As hard as this season is for Clay and me, thinking of Nan being with our Savior, celebrating His birth, truly does give me joy.  I see the light in George's eye when he talks about Jesus, and it reminds me that there is so much joy in the sacrifice.

'the tide of time shall never His covenant remove,

His Name shall stand forever, that Name to us is Love.'

- Hail to the Lord's Anointed