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There is a hush that falls over the city Christmas Eve night. There is hardly a car on the road. Only the really hard-core stores and gas stations are open. People are on the way, making preparations, or already together. It is one of the few true religious times of the year. It is time to stop, give thanks, and look for life’s simple blessings. It is a time to pull back the muck of daily trials and tribulations and see the brighter side of life. It is a time of hope. It is a time to give. By Christmas Eve, all our work and efforts have either happened or not. We have bought all the right stuff for each other. We have wrapped it in the right kind of paper. By then, we have made all the right kinds of food. We have put on the right clothes. We sang the right kinds of songs. We have done all this hard work as if we were the ones making Christmas happen. When this Christmas Eve hush hits, we realize that it is God (not us) who makes it happen. There is no special formula for the right things that make Christmas, Christmas. Christmas – God coming to us – happens no matter what we do. Christmas is not something you do or don’t deserve. Christmas happens whether we are ready or not. Christmas is all about the gift of himself that God places in the world’s hands. God says, “Here this is for you.” And we say, “Oh, you shouldn’t have.” But we open it anyway. God’s gift to us is the gift of new life, the gift of acceptance, the gift of love. In the hush of the moment this year, may each of us take God’s gift for what it is and say, “Thanks God, it’s just what I needed.” Grace & Peace,