Wow. There is so much going through my head.
My wife is in Texas/Oklahoma … the house is empty … for the first in many years, I have no tree … my wife and I exchanged gifts before she left … the house is empty … the decorations remain in the basement unused … winter is here …
As I look at this Christmas, I ponder what it is going to look like for me.
For several Christmases, I drove to the Blue Ridge to see the sunrise on Christmas morning, I ponder what Joseph and Mary thought that first Christmas sunrise. Was Jesus sleeping, or still hyped from the shepherd boy’s drum solo?
Did they realize that the Light of the World was right there in their arms as the light of day arose in the east?
One of my thought streams is we are in winter. I went out two nights ago and looked at the stars … Orion, Ursa Major, stars that lead and directed people for centuries.
It was then I realized, it is profound that the shepherds looked at these same stars. Mary and Joseph gazed up at the same heavenly lights. The Magi studied them and it was this study that led them west to the Christ Child.
This Christmas, I ponder winter … cold, yet the stars still shine … long dark nights, yet as of yesterday (winter solstice) the dark nights are getting shorter.
But in all of this, it is something so real, so piercing, so mind boggling that grabbed my attention … a simple quote by CS Lewis … a quote by Aslan from the Narnia books …
Basically, it is so cold in winter … and without Christ, it is “Always winter, but never Christmas.”
This winter, my wife is in Texas, there is no tree, the decorations remained boxed, and the house is empty. But since there is always Jesus … so, bring on winter, for there is always Christmas.
Muddy Shoes by Todd 
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