Christmastime

Ah...it's that time of year again! When I fill the house with good smells, spend way too much money, and put up so many decorations I dread the day they all have to come down.  Maybe it will just be Christmas until February this year...
Anyway, I don't know why I've been so antsy for the holidays to start, but I started shopping, school projects, and holiday baking earlier this year.  I guess I just love the feel of Christmas...or at least of all the Christmasy things we do.  Maybe it was the fact that I've been thinking holidays since early in November when I had to plan the hymns for sacrament meeting for December and review all those wonderful hymns, or when I started writing my Christmas story for writing group.
In case you didn't know, I've recently joined a writing group and come to terms with the fact that I AM A WRITER.  I thought I only dabbled...but now it's official!  Channelling all the holiday goodness into a short story really helped me to think about what's important this year: relationships, love, and all the good things in life...finding Christmas Magic again like we did as kids. 
Except there can be even more depth for us now than there was then: the joy of helping, giving, and just loving.  We can recognize that each act of love and service to our fellowman is really a gift to Christ.  A birthday gift, if you will.  In the movie The Bells of St. Mary, Bing Crosby, the pastor over a neighborhood school, is invited to a child-directed Christmas play.  The children tell and act out the Christmas Story in their own way, and when it is time to sing to the newborn Christ child, Bing asks if they will since Silent Night or O Holy Night, but they children reply they have their own song and begin to sing Happy Birthday to You to the baby in the basket.
I hope that we can remember the reason for this season as those little ones did and act as simply to bring joy, peace, and love to the lives of others.