The Christmas season has always been a highly anticipated time in my life. The lights on the tree, glowing with possibility. Ornaments encapsulating memories of days gone by. The sturdy anchor of previous provision and the hope of what could be was the perfect balance in my tiny world as a child. Even now, I love to enjoy the quiet of the morning in the light of the tree. 

When I was small enough, lying under the Christmas tree was a treasured pastime. I would skooch on my back until the lower branches fully encircled my head, and I could stay there for hours. Actually, that’s probably not true, but when you are small, twenty minutes translates to hours! While I cannot recall what perpetuated this practice, I wonder if it was an effort to remain in the moment. I did not want the wonder of Christmas to pass.

There was a particular Christmas when my sisters and I were petitioning for cowgirl boots from K-Mart. Can’t you just picture them? Plastic, high-quality beauties. We knew nothing of leather and the endless possibilities of authentic cowgirl boots, but we had set our sights on these boots and would stop at nothing to make our longing a reality. We wrote letters, visited Santa, and routinely admired the boots on our shopping trips.

Sleeping was always elusive on Christmas Eve. We would pile into one room, and the walls of the tiny bedroom could hardly contain the pulse of our excitement. Eventually, sleep would win, but it never lasted long. 

The year of the cowgirl boots was no different. I must have been about eight, which means my sisters were ten and twelve. I was the first one up–no doubt at an ungodly hour–so I decided to tiptoe into the living room to see what Santa had left. The glow of the tree lights drew me in like a moth to a flame, and I could not believe my eyes. Three pairs of cowgirl boots sat perched around the tree. Our dream had come true!

There was only one reasonable reaction to this discovery. I ran from the living room to the bedroom in our matchbox house and stirred my sisters from their sleep, heralding the news that Santa had delivered our much-anticipated cowgirl boots. It was a Christmas miracle! Except, the looks on their faces and the words that flowed from their mouths did not match my enthusiasm. 

I had ruined their surprise. That possibility had not even occurred to me amidst my overwhelming joy. We had received a long-awaited gift, and I could not contain myself. I assumed everyone wanted to know, and they did, but I rushed the timeline. My sisters got over it, but the memory still prompts something in me.

As an adult and a fully devoted follower of Christ, I want to have the same excitement for the gift of salvation I have been given. If I can be that pumped for plastic cowboy boots, shouldn’t I have an even greater enthusiasm for the forgiveness Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection provided? Yes, unapologetically, yes! This is not a surprise to ruin, but a gift to share with the world. 

My hope this Christmas is that my life be a vessel declaring the good gift I have received from the Lord, and the proclamation of good news of great joy interrupts sleepers and changes the trajectory of lives. That’s what the message of Christmas is all about. 

“When the shepherds had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.” Luke 2:17-18

While my sisters were not particularly amazed at my declaration of the arrival of our cowgirl boots that Christmas morning, I long for the same enthusiasm to share the gift of eternal hope I received when I surrendered my life to Jesus.

That same gift awaits you, friend. True forgiveness and everlasting life were wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger, but you have to receive the gift. It’s a gift you have been longing for without necessarily knowing it, and it lasts a whole lot longer than plastic cowgirl boots! Don’t let this Christmas pass you by without opening the beauty of life with Christ.

Merry Christmas, y’all!

In case you were looking for a Christmas Advent[ure] and missed it, here is a link to our Sowkind Calendar. It’s not too late to be intentionally kind this season!