Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

This is my favorite holiday of the year. I remember Christmas as a child, waking up my parents at dark:30 and telling them "It's Christmas!!" I was sent back to bed and told to wait until the sun came up. Eventually I would be allowed to wake everyone up (I was the youngest) and distribute the packages under the Christmas tree.

Between Christmas and New Years we would travel to my maternal grandparents at Madrid, Nebraska. I remember getting stuffed into the back seat along with three of my siblings, Jeannine got to sit up front with the parents since she got car sick. All of the Burbank cousins would gather there every Christmas, except the Atkins family who lived in North Carolina. We would play games, mostly 10-point pitch, for hours. Eat good food and then play more games. Great memories were made and lifelong ties formed.

As I got older Christmas was still fun, gathering with family, eating good food and sharing a lot of fun.

When our girls were small we got to experience Christmas through their eyes. Now I know why my parents were always amused during Christmas. It was such a joy to see their excitement.

But the real reason Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year is that this is when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ! He was born as a human, yet was still God. He lived a perfect life, yet was condemned to die on a cross because of mine and your sins. He went to Hell.

But the miraculous thing is He became alive again and now sits in Heaven with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus Christ we know with certainty that we can live in Heaven.

All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as our Lord. He has done all the work. He has paid the price. This is free to all!! This is the best Christmas gift ever.

Merry Christmas to all of you. I pray that we will all celebrate together in Heaven some day.