It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Christmas time is upon us...If you do not believe me try finding a parking spot at your local mall or finding a line in your hometown Wal-Mart that isn't at least 15 minutes long. As I have said in previous posts, I really have turned into a "Christmas lover" for lack of a better description. I don't know if it is from getting older or what, but I think it has a lot to do with being married because as Johanna and I have got to celebrate Christmas together the past couple years, that is when the transition has occurred. (Note: Not that I ever disliked getting presents, but some of the rest of the hoopla got old in a hurry.)
With Christmas in full swing I wanted to share a couple comical stories about our holiday experience so far. First of all, this year and last year I have become obsessed with decoratiing. However, we were waiting to move into a new house on Dec. 1st so I got a late start on the whole decorations thing this year. But finally in the middle of last week I finished getting my Christmas lights put up on the outside of the house. I had been working on them for several days and had tried everything to hang them. Certain staples from staple guns weren't strong enough to go through the wood and others were to thick for my gun. I couldn't find nails that wouldn't leave huge holes in the house, but after a few days I go it figured out. I had even went to Wal Mart and purchased these light hangers that were supposed to "stick" to the overhang of the house. I used them on the last strand and finished it up on Thursday. Last night when Johanna and I turned the lights on and were leaving the house to go eat with some friends I noticed that all my "sticky" light hangers had lost their stick in the humidity and drizzle and so that strand was hanging down. It just happens to be the strand on the tallest peak of the house so that will all have to be re-hung this week. Gotta' laugh about it because getting mad doesn't get the lights back up. Then on Saturday, Johanna and I spent all day looking for a certain Christmas present for my sister-in-law (my brother's wife). We went into 6 or 8 different stores all over the Austin area looking for this item and literally spent the entire day looking for that one gift. Yesterday my mom called me, laughing, and had some "great" news for me. She knew we had been shopping for the gift all over Austin, all day long and she had just got off the phone with my sister-in-law's mom, who informed my mom that they had already gotten Christie the same gift! I called my brother and after a threat to drive to Houston and strangle them I was ok. The also got the smae gift for my brother that we were getting, but I guess it's back to the gift drawing board - and back to the packed malls!
In the midst of this holiday season, I hope that you take time to stop. Just stop and relax and rest in the joy that Christmas brings. Stop and be still in the thought that this season is a celebration of the Savior. The one who stepped out of heaven and put on flesh and blood so that we would have a God who is like us in every way. He knows our hurts, pains, struggles, stresses, triumphs, and joys because he has lived where we lived and walked in our human shoes. And that is what it is all about. God loved us enough not to leave us alone, but to send us a Savior. And find some way this holiday season to share that love and message in a very practical way, be it big or small, with someone who doesn't know the One Who Is Love. Until next time...