Christmas Eve Day...

picture this...
the real meaning of Christmas....
it's not ipod nanos or xbox 360s or
fillet mignon or...or even the tallest
evergreen tree at rockefeller center.
no. contrary to what most americans
have come to know and go broke over
is just how most of us celebrate it.
and even though i like to see it as
getting together with friends and family
and tossing around the idea of finally
making a resolution for the next year,
at the risk of sounding corning and
hypocritical........
Jesus is the reason for the season!

years ago, between jobs, i managed
several holiday kiosks at all of the dales.
i know, weird, right? anyway, one day my
sister helped me out by working with me
at the southdale location.
right outside the old daytons on the main
level. this was a novelty Christmas sweatshirt
and t-shirt kiosk.
now folks come up all day long, week in week out
asking "where's the bathroom?" and "can you tell
me where Soldati is?" (greatest shoe store ever by the way!)
and my favorite, "where can i find a directory?"
it was right behind them...DUH!
but one day, just before Christmas a woman and
her daughter approached the kiosk and asked
"do any of your shirts read 'Jesus is the reason for
the season?'....." and we said "no."... the woman
walked away, and we laughed and laughed!
almost mocking the rhyme..."Jesus is the reason for
the season"!
from that day forward anne and i would always
giggle when we recalled the event......

I don't remember exactly when i came back to Christ,
straying as many do in adolescence,
but that the phrase no longer makes me giggle....
it does, however, make me smile and i will always
remember that Jesus is indeed the reason for the season!

Celebrate His birth
Merry Christmas


(jacquie, i enjoyed our little outting yesterday!
thanks for having me along!)

dean & lois.. your card and generous gift
arrived yesterday, thank you.