My Thoughts on Christmas Eve

He did it. That stinker Jon sang Silent Night on Christmas Eve. He sang it softly and beautifully and doggone it if I didn't feel my throat tighten and my chin quivering. I cried, yes I did. Could not even get the words out.

Not only was it the song, it was the atmosphere. In a huge, traditional, old church building. With the lights lowered all the way and just one tiny candle lit.

Until the music started and that one candle lit several candles. Those candles lit several, many lit many more, and so on and so on, until there were close to 300 candles lit, a blanket of little lights joined together by the beautiful notes of Silent Night.

So now we are deep into the wee hours of Christmas Eve.

Gable lays in his bed longing for just one thing on Christmas morning: His cat to come home. He's been gone for 10 days now. We passed out more papers today. Please come home, Chad. Beat the odds. Come on home, buddy. A little boy lays in his bed waiting for you. Please.

The other boys are willing their bodies to fall asleep so that they can wake up especially early tomorrow morning.

Jon has the coffee ready for that especially early morning tomorrow.

When we were on our way to service tonight, I asked the boys what gift they were hoping for the most. Instead of answering that question, they immediately started talking about the gift that they were most anxious to give. They all talked over each other with excitement about the things they had made or bought for each other and how much they just knew the other would LOVE it.

NOT that they aren't about getting as well. It's just a beautiful thing to see them so excited about giving to others.

We stopped in our old neighborhood tonight to drop off 'Dreamy' Pastor Ryan's cinnamon rolls. My former next-door neighbors, Joan and Chuck, were so excited to see the boys that Joan sat/fell down on the steps and just cried. Gable said she hugged them each five times. I think he was right. We visited another old neighbor that was just a shell of the ball-o-fire she used to be. It was sad to see her in such poor health and even harder to hear her tell us the same thing three times in a two-minute period.

We left there really, really thankful for our grandmothers and their health...

We left there touched by the harsh realities of a sinful, dying world, laced with sickness and eventual death.

But we also left there with a renewed commitment to share God's love with any and all who God chooses to bring into our paths. For whatever length of time our paths cross, the boys and I commited to love just a little bit more.

And that, my friends, wraps up my thoughts on this Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to you, my blogging friends. Christ's blessings to you and your families.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me...