Christmas Eve 2008

Okay, it looks like I’ll have to type this one in very large print because I can’t find my computer glasses. The glasses are unique because I only need one lens so I popped the right one out.

I shouldn’t be surprised at this point on Christmas Eve, that I’m behind and can’t find my glasses. I still have Christmas stocking gifts to wrap and stockings to stuff. I thought I was off the hook because our older daughter is 31, but I was wrong.

I was pretty organized this year and thought I would finally arrive at one late night Christmas Evening service without feeling frazzled and looking like I’ve been dragged through a knothole. Last minute details (assigned to others, I might add) fell through and I found myself at Macy’s on Christmas Eve. late afternoon looking for the “perfect gift.” The only thing really perfect was the prices.

But driving home tonight after one last run to the store, I realized that the parts of Christmas that are most important to me all happened. I got to spend time with both daughters making tamales and watch them revert to their old childhood patterns of sibling rivalry. Some things never change, but I see now that it is all right. Especially when one of the girls stuffed blueberries up her nostrils and we laughed until we cried. I won’t tell you how old she is.

I took a homemade turkey pie and some other good food stuff to a long-time friend who is older and doesn’t get out much anymore. I was the one who felt blessed by the opportunity to stop and visit, get a hug and a bristly kiss and know we had connected once more.

Today I also took a friend out to lunch who was suffering from self-inflicted houseboundness. She didn’t want to go, but I kind of nudged and we were both glad we had the chance to eat a good meal and catch up. I thought I was doing it for her, but I appreciated having someone to talk with too.

I made a stop at a Walgreen’s for one more last-minute gift and ran into a dear friend. She is someone I admire very much and also someone who has had a very difficult life and yet she perseveres. I had written her a Christmas card to tell her I loved her and she said she hadn’t read it yet. We hugged, kissed and said “I love you” in the midst of the store and for a moment we understood each other’s unspoken needs and parts of life we wish were different.

If I hadn’t stopped, or it had been a minute one way or the other, I wouldn’t have run into her and it was such a gift in the midst of the Christmas wrap aisle at Walgreen’s.

This is where grace comes in. I don’t think the moments of unexpected joy, beauty, nature or what others would call a coincidence are anything but little gifts from one who loves us. I wish you all many moments of grace in the upcoming year and I wish you the wisdom to recognize it and be thankful when you experience grace.