There is a major difference between Jodie and me in our appreciation of holidays. It comes down to this, Jodie likes to celebrate holidays, I really could care less about most holidays. To me, the only holidays that rise to the occasion of being a day to celebrate are Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas. The rest of the holiday schedule (including Birthdays) could disappear and I wouldn't be terrible torn up about it.
Now, not only does Jodie love Christmas, but she loves Christmas starting in the fall. This year, she pulled out the Christmas music October 3. Actually, it might have been earlier, but October 3 was the first time I heard it. I have a firm rule that no Christmas music may be played before Thanksgiving, and really I could wait until the 2nd week of December to start listening. It's not that I'm a Scrooge, I just get bored with music, and there are only so many Christmas songs to listen to before you start repeating them, over, and over, and over, and over again. If I wait longer to start listening to Christmas music, then I don't get burnt out on Christmas music before Christmas even gets here.
What's worse than early Christmas music? Shopping! If I could, I would not leave the house on the weekends during the holiday shopping season (we live off of a shopping center, so we get to have fun with holiday traffic). Drivers start getting punchy, lines get crazy long, and people generally loose common sense when shopping during the Christmas season. This I find to be odd, since they mostly have common sense the rest of the year. So, I have been shopping online for many years now, and will likely continue that trend.
Having read this far, you may be wondering how in the world the title matches the post. To this point, I have complained greatly about the Christmas season. Well, the title is true, I am finally getting in the Christmas season. Last night was the Riley County High School Christmas concert, and it was really wonderful. They had it this year at Grace, and the church was decorated nicely with candlelight around the sanctuary, and the music was great. Then this morning, worship team practiced our Christmas music set (note: we've been singing Christmas music for a couple of weeks). Then the kicker, this afternoon Lindsay Arthur came in to practice the Offertory for tomorrow, "Christmas Morning" by Shannon Wexelberg. First of all, if you have not heard of Shannon Wexelberg, she was the worship leader at the National Worship Leader Conference this year who impressed me the most. She led worship from the piano, and it was a moving time. She has released a Christmas album called Love Came for Me, and it is one of the best Christmas albums released in the last couple of years, and the song Christmas Morning is one of the best (if not the best) original Christmas song written in the last couple of years. Lindsay sings wonderfully well, and it was such a blessing to run through the song today. If you are in the Manhattan area, plan on coming to either the 8:30 or 10:30 service tomorrow to hear her sing, hear Pastor Flack preach Advent from the Psalms and all of the other Christmas celebration in the service.
Before I leave you, let me leave you with the last verse of the song and a link to buy the cd (or you could listen to it on a service like Rhapsody or MOG). Trust me, worth it!
This Christmas morning
As families gather all around the tree
Let’s tell the story
That Love was born to die for you and me
To mend the broken
To be what we could never be
This Christmas morning
Let us worship Christ the King
Love Came for Me
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