Morning thoughts from Pastor Tim

 I was listening to the radio the other day and heard the Nat King Cole classic 1961 Christmas Song.
I know you have heard the lyrics.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos.

While this song is symbolically romaticized at Christmas and gives a warm feeling inside, for me, I’ve never had a chestnut.
I’ve had Jack Frost nipping at my nose but that’s more in January and February.
Folks don’t dress up like Eskimos in Texas; it’s just not cold enough.
And how about this Christmas song made famous in 1942 by Bing Crosby.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

Once again it’s a great song that conjures up cozy seasonal thoughts of the child like faith in Christmas.
I’ve never heard sleigh bells in the snow or any other place.
My Christmases are never white and the treetops don’t glisten.
Perhaps in other areas of the country these songs are a real tribute to what others may experience.
For me Christmas is a cold drizzle outside and a warm fire inside.
Christmas is the glistening of red and green of traffic lights reflecting on a wet street.
It’s lights on a house, the smell of a fir, and the truck sliding around in red mud.
But there is common ground for all of us, whether your Christmases are white, you eat chestnuts, dress up like an Eskimo, or wear shorts and flip-flops.
And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7
For all of us Christmas should be foremost about the birth of our Savior.

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