I really enjoy riding around our city and see how beautifully people decorate their homes in December. Some of them go all out and climb to the roof to put lights up there, and the figures of snowmen, bears, clowns and just about anything all lit up. Sometimes I see shepherds with lambs, but not often do I see a baby, the reason for the season, Christ’s Mass. Yes, that is what it was called originally. We have gone a long way, haven’t we? There are Christmas parties everywhere. People dress up gaily and they dance and drink the night away. I’ve never been to one, so my description is only from television. Family dinners are everywhere, but the Christchild’s birth is barely mentioned. The only thing that opens our minds that a baby that was born is that the churches are filled and people are singing those old carols.

I can’t say our family dinner and gift exchange is any different from Thanksgiving when our cheering seems, to be from the football games rather than being thankful for all we have. Our Christmas dinner is the same. I believe we should talk about that baby, Jesus, who died for all of our sins when He was just about 32 years of age. At least those of us who accepted what He did should be willing to talk about it, shouldn’t we? Each gift we open should remind us of the greatest gift was when God gave his only son to come to earth to save us folks.

Maybe you think I am scolding all of you but I am just reminding you. This has been going on for hundreds of years. I am 96 years old and I know things were just the same when I was a little girl. Only we didn’t have the lights. I remember reading abut Christmas parties like ours hundreds of years ago, so maybe God and Jesus enjoy looking at all the lights in our homes. And our parties and Family dinners makes them feel happy knowing we are happy together. But I’m sure they would like us to be more aware that Jesus was born on Christmas Day!

There shall the Child lie in a stall, This Child who will redeem us all. How great our joy, Great our joy! Joy, Joy Joy! Joy, Joy Joy! Praise we the Lord in heaven on high! Praise we the Lord in heaven on high! (the third verse of “How Great Our Joy!)

I was going through some papers that really needed to be thrown away. But the more I looked, the more I understood my children may enjoy reading them some day, so I kept most of them. One of them made me laugh again. I share them today with you.

My daughter and her husband decided to take a camping trip. This was to be their first camping trip since their marriage and they hadn’t made any reservations , but now that I think about it, reservations weren’t needed at that time. As they were driving along they saw a sign, “CAMP GROUND. One mile. They pulled in and noticed the camp ground was unimproved and quite deserted. But since it was now dark, they would put up their tent.

When everything was done, it was time to find an outhouse somewhere. they left their little lantern burning and took off with their flashlight being their only light. After quite awhile they found two broken down houses, one said Women and the other said Men.

“You go in first with the flashlight because you’ll never find what’s in there until you do. I’ll wait out here until you are finished”, said my new son-in-law.

So my daughter bravely entered where it said “Women” and I’m not sure whether she did her job or not, but she dropped the flashlight down the hole! She didn’t know what she would do next, but she was pretty sure she didn’t want to stay there forever. She geared up her courage and went outside to meet the man she had married.

When he got over being angry, he said, “I think I have something in the truck that should work. That is if we can find the truck. It seems awfully dark here! They started walking they hoped was in the direction of their camp.

Soon, they saw the tiny flicker of their lantern and they knew they were almost home, at least their camp home! Now, how about you? In our country, don’t you wonder if we will be going to war? Not only with other countries, but could we have a civil war between the two agendas in our own country? Yes, we seem to be living in a very dark place. But the two people in our true story saw a flicker of light that led them home. We can go home to that light too. That light is God. God is always with us and He is light. We need Him to take away the darkness and bring us the light. He will take care of anything that needs to be taken care of. Yup! We don’t need to be afraid of darkness anymore.