I found the joy...

It's Christmas morning here and I'm sitting here all alone.

Now before you start into feeling sorry for me, just listen a bit, okay?

I woke up at my usual 5am this morning and everything was so still and quiet... that I could feel the presence of Jesus. Today is Jesus' birthday and no matter how busy or quiet things may be for each of us, it's one of the best days of the year... simply because we've already received the greatest gift imaginable.

But I feel good today. I feel peaceful and thankful and full of joy.

And I've been chuckling to myself all morning. Which might be a sign of impending senility, but I kind of doubt it. At least I hope not.

You see, when I was a child and when my children were young, it always seemed so unfair to recieve bikes and skates, skateboards, volleyball sets and jump ropes for Christmas... simply because the weather wasn't nice enough to get out there and use them, you know? From a kid's point of view, how sad is it really, to recieve presents, when you have to wait another 4-5 months before you can actually use them ? I remember always being so excited and thrilled to get what I asked for - at least a tiny portion of what I had asked for - but we seldom got to use what we had gotten - at least not right away.

We never got much in the way of manufactured gifts, because we all know that the space on Santa's sleigh is pretty limited. And how would it be, if he brought every single child a bicycle for Christmas? Those poor reindeer would be pullin' muscles, hauling all that heavy stuff around all night! One year my dad told us that the reindeer might even go on strike, if people didn't start to realize just how hard they were being asked to work - and all for nothing but carrots and a bucket of water.

So we always knew that our gifts from Santa were limited and we may not be able to use them right away... but the clothes that my mother lovingly made by hand, the books from my Nana and the oranges and nuts and a candy cane in our stocking were all big bonus's. Life was good. Some of our presents may have been unusable for the next few months, but life was good because we had what really counted. We had love and we had each other.

Well, it's going to be in the high 80's today, so guess what's going on outside my house this morning! Kids ! Kids on bikes. Kids on skateboards. Kids with balsa wood airplanes and action figures with parachutes that fall from the sky. Laughing and shouting and the sounds of frustration...." Mum, I can't ride this stupid bike". Joyous noises in the sunshine.

I even saw a young couple passing by, with a baby in a brand new, bright, make your eyeballs hurt, pink pram... and that pram was covered - literally covered - in tinsel and bells and dangling ornaments... looking like a strange sort of Christmas sleigh. It looked like a float in Macy's Christmas parade. But it sounded just like Santa's sleigh would have sounded, if I had stayed awake long enough to hear it. And oh my... it sounded wonderful!

In our town, the volunteer fireman drive Santa around on their fire engine on Christmas morning ( because he's tired after all that hard work last night) and he throws candy to everyone along the way. So here in my town at least, the children get a glimpse of "the big jolly man" after all his hard labors... and it just adds to the excitement.

Santa just came down our street, and big kid that I am, I was out there with the best of 'em. All the neighbors were standing on the sidewalk, waiting for a glimpse of Santa and a chance to grab some Christmas candy. Kids were all jumping and shouting "Mum, here comes Santa... he's coming to our house!! LOOK ! LOOK Dad, here he comes !! He's COMING!!"

Even the teenage boys across the street were scrambling for their bits of candy. And they all shouted out "Thank you Santa!" Even the scary looking one, with the mohawk and the lip piercings. No matter what he may look like, he's still a kid... and he still knows the joy of Christmas. As well as his manners.

The kids are up and down the sidewalk on their skates and bikes...everyone is smiling and laughing, you can smell the barbeque's starting to fire up... and you can hear "Merry Christmas!" echoing throughout the street.

It may not be peaceful... and it sure as heck isn't serene and quiet, but in my neighborhood this morning... it's Joyous!

I wish you all, a very Joyous and love filled Christmas!