On Sunday we drove home from Kansas City after a holiday visit with Chris's mom. We spent some of the time listening to Christmas music. Forgive me, but I'm a sucker for Christmas nostalgia in the form of dusty records from the attic. My childhood Christmas soundtrack was Burl Ives and Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole played from LPs. Nat King Cole's version of "O Holy Night" played on our Sunday afternoon road trip. That song gets it all right, doesn't it? The holiness, the beauty, the chains and the freedom. At one point I said to Chris, "This version is my favorite. He sings just the notes." There's some truth in our need to sing just the notes, too, am I right? Just like Nat King Cole doesn't need the extra riffs and embellishments to create the perfect version of that holiday classic, we don't need the extra busyness and chaos that we often create in the holiday season. However, in our attempt to fabricate the perfect holiday, we put up extra strings of lights and spend more on gifts than we should and say "yes" to too many Christmas parties. We would be better off if we stuck to Nat King Cole's version: just the notes. Since becoming parents, that has been a holiday goal for Chris and me. We pare down and focus on the essentials. Tonight we will wrap gifts and drink red wine while the boys are at basketball practice. The store-bought wrapping paper won't match on the edges and the corners will not be crisp. (My apologies, Dad. You definitely taught me better.) I'll probably write names on gifts with a Sharpie. This year at least I have clear tape. (I've been known to wrap birthday gifts with duct tape.) The perfect ribbons and intricately lettered name tags aren't essentials for us. (No judgment if they are for you.) We probably won't make it to look at Christmas lights this year, and we might not get to watch every Christmas movie on our list of favorites. I never get all of the baking done that I'd like to do, and this year we're making our own gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and frosting because I didn't want to shell out the cash for the fancy store-bought ones. But that's okay. Those things are the extra riffs and embellishments that might make us lose focus on the notes, if we're not careful. Just the notes. So what does that means? The Gospel notes are pretty simple: Jesus came. Jesus lived and loved. Jesus died so you and I can experience freedom and forgiveness. Therein lies our greatest hope. Sing just those notes this Christmas, friends.
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September 2020
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