Christmas Eve

Our 2019 tree.
12/7/19 (dwm)

Like everything else this year, Christmas is being celebrated under a cloud of Covid-19.

Family will be close to our hearts, but unless they are living under the same roof, the safe thing to do is what AT&T used to suggest, "Reach out and touch someone," by phone.

Whether it's on a video; cellphone; or landline - moments talking to parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles will be treasured moments as absence makes the heart grow fonder.

Our house is going virtual for the holiday.  We'll see the kids on a shared Zoom call instead of around the dinner table.

More of us will remember this celebration more because of our once-in-a-lifetime circumstance.

Jingle Bells may ring louder because coat-wearing crowds don't muffle the sound.

It will be quiet as we think about people who've been sick or died because of the world-wide disease.  In a recent Christmas card from a long-time friend I learned they lost a relative and two close friends because of coronavirus.  Those who escaped infection still deal with the repercussions of living with isolation.  Others lost jobs or struggle with low wages and long hours.

Luke wrote about a couple who had a rough Christmas.  They had to walk 90 miles from their home for a census (I guess the online survey wasn't available).  There was no reservations available, so they took shelter in a barn.  Traveling outside their health-provider network meant dealing with a medical emergency on their own.  After handling it, a group of shaggy strangers showed up.

Your Christmas and mine will be fine by comparison. We may have a star on our tree.  That couple probably didn't notice the one that lead more strangers to their home.  Their Christmas - the first Christmas - is what we celebrate.

This year will be unlike any other - just like the nine months before this one.  We can reflect and recall  family celebrations (I forget the year, but when we lived in north Wisconsin on one Christmas all of us were sick and spent our time alternately sleeping or watching movies from the couch) and plan our gathering next Christmas.

It is Christmas Eve, so let's provide the set-up for the big day:

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.  (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.)  And everyone went to their own town to register.
 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.  He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.  

Luke 2: 1 - 5 NIV