The Day After

Happy Birthday, Baby!

    Twenty five years ago my daughter missed her first Christmas and blessed us with her birth the day after. She was due on December 13, 1986 and was showing promising signs of coming early on Thanksgiving Day. We had plans to take our two week old baby to Kansas City and celebrate her first Christmas with family and friends. We had her "Baby's First Christmas" stocking hung next to mom and dad's and her big brother's. She had gifts under the tree and Santa had her on his list.
   December 13th came and went and soon it was apparent that a trip to Kansas City was not going to be possible. I still held out hope that she would be here before Christmas and then
I got worried that we would be in the hospital for Christmas. But not to worry, I was able to spend Christmas day at home and technically baby was with us although she was still wrapped up snug as a bug in a womb.
   You just can't predict these type of events. Babies come when babies are done. The day after Christmas we trekked up to the big city and the package was delivered. So every year, after all the Christmas festivities are over our family has one more special celebration we call, "The Day After." The Day After my daughter missed her first  Christmas we celebrate the day she was born.
   Before we trek up to the big city to enjoy a dinner out with family and friends to celebrate her birthday, I like to take a few minutes to reflect on the celebrations the day before. How do we celebrate the most amazing birthday of all, the birth of our Messiah, Jesus. Gift giving, loving your family, remembering friends and neighbors, and greeting weary cashiers with a smile are all part of  loving Jesus during this crazy time of year. Jesus said, "what you do for the least of these, you do for me." Spreading Christmas Cheer is not just a commericialized ritual, the heart of Christmas cheer is loving others with the love of Jesus.
   I also want to reflect on the specific ways we celebrated Jesus' birthday. Although we did not wrap up a gift for Jesus and put it under the tree, we celebrated Jesus directly with pauses of reflection. And like Mary in Luke 2:19, we thought about these things and treasured them in our hearts as we celebrated with family and friends. Some of the ways we paused and remembered Jesus:
  -- Christmas Eve Worship Services
  -- Christmas Carols on the Piano
  -- Read Luke 2: 8-20 when we gathered for grace before Christmas Dinner
  -- Wished Jesus a Happy Birthday on facebook.
    Maybe it doesn't seem like a lot for a King's birthday. But there is one thing this Day After reflection brings, it brings a heart of gratitude for the birth of the King who brought great Joy to all people. On that day a Saviour was born. And as we celebrated yesterday, we tried to return that Joy to as many people as we could and we treasured in our hearts the love of God who came to earth as a babe to walk among us and give us hope.
     Today, as I celebrate my baby girls' first Christmas, The Day After, I treasure in my heart the first Christmas ever that lives on in our daily lives as we share that love with others. I thank God every day for the miracle of birth, for my daughter's and my Saviour's.