Last week at church my pastor talked about holiday traditions. People raised their hand about when they opened presents. Some opened them all on Christmas Eve, while others were allowed to open one that night. Most everyone raised their hand to say they opened presents on Christmas morning. Some before breakfast, some after, some even before dawn!
M y family opens their presents in the morning, after we’ve read Luke 2. When we were younger, we would all get together upstairs, clad in pajamas and fairly bouncing with excitement over what presents were waiting downstairs. My brother and sister and I would listen as Mom would read from the bible and then we’d make a break for it.
As we’ve gotten older and people have moved out of the house, we still wait to open presents after the story of Jesus’ birth has been read. Now, we sit around the living room, with the lights of the Christmas tree twinkling over the gifts. My brother usually has a cup of coffee in his hands and my stepdad will be sitting close to my mom, my sister will be perched as close as she can be to the tree and her husband will be huddled in warm clothes. Lately I’ve read the story on Christmas morning, and as I finish there’s a moment of stillness as we all take in the moment. Not only remembering the gift that God gave us so long ago, but the gift of family and traditions that he blessed us with as well.
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