“While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Luke 2:6-7 (CSB)

I typically get my house decorated for Christmas about three weeks ahead of time. I enjoy hearing Christmas music, but not too much. I always hope for snow, but in SC that is not a reasonable wish. I definitely do not like it to be near 80 degrees either. It is not uncommon for me to be wrapping presents and putting the finishing touches on holiday baking up into the evening on Christmas Eve. But this year has been different. I had the house dressed and ready before December 1, but I had an insatiable urge to mix things up, try new things. All the gifts are wrapped and under the tree before Christmas Eve. The only things to bake are those items that are best baked fresh. I have been playing Christmas playlists all month long and even as I compose this posting, I have been tuned into a Christmas jazz channel that is playing a mix of old and new and some songs I never heard before. It is also one of the coldest days on record for a large majority of the nation. And unlike the usual hub-bub rush I usually feel, there is a calm peace and opportunity for me to do some personal review and inventory. This, despite it having been a crazy month of health issues for my husband and me, a host of obligations and all the usual busy-ness of the holiday season, lets me know that not only is this no ordinary night, it is also no ordinary Christmas. I don’t know why nor do I have any expectations, I just feel something different is happening.

Imagine that first Christmas Eve night if you will. Mary, made the trip to Bethlehem out of obligation while far along in her pregnancy. Imagine the anxiety that may have been building up when it became apparent that the usual arrangements that would have been made in her day all fell through while the birth pains were beginning to rack her body. Any place was better than the wide open space and the protection of a stable cave was better than nothing. Imagine the fear of the shepherds who were having an ordinary night in the pasture when it was suddenly lit up by a choir of angels singing and directing them to go to Bethlehem and see the savior that was born. Now consider this, Jesus came into this world like any other ordinary baby but this was no ordinary baby. This was God made flesh, the Lord, the King of Kings and while He was born on an ordinary night, this was no ordinary night.

Later in Luke 2, it is said that “Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.”(v.19). What this tells me is that Mary was taking some time to consider the events, piecing together all the little things that at the time seemed quite ordinary but somehow extraordinary. You know, those times when we step back from the situations we are in and consider how the signs were all there, but in the moment, things that transpired were a little out of the ordinary but not so much that we would make special note of them until after the fact. In that moment we realize and Mary realized that it was no ordinary night and this was not an ordinary baby. Indeed, this was the night that salvation came to the world!

I am not sure what or why it is, but I trust that I will know at the right time why this holiday season has been a little bit different for me . I am choosing this Christmas Eve to do as Mary, ponder and meditate on these things and enjoy the wonder, beauty and awe of yet another season.