Memories, Tradition and More
Chaplain Bill Wolfe
Llano County Sheriff’s Department
Hello, and welcome to the Chaplain’s Corner. Here it is December again. The election is behind us, as is Thanksgiving, and the New Year is rushing at us. I’ve been sitting here remembering Christmas past. It’s amazing how vivid some memories are even though they recall Christmases 40 years ago. Now it’s time to start thinking about Christmas 2004…well, perhaps it’s a bit late to start planning, but then I always wait until the last minute and 38 seconds. Okay, a minute and 10 seconds is probably more accurate. J
Memories. Lots and lots of fond memories come when I start thinking on Christmases gone by. Growing up in the Midwest, I recall going to buy Christmas trees with my family when it was cold and snowing. Shaking trees, turning them around; weighing shape and size against ideals; then running to the big barrels where they kept fires burning so we could warm up. I remember one year we got five trees. My brother and I each had one in our bedrooms and we had one in the family room, the basement game room and the main tree in the living room. The whole house smelled like a pine forest. It was a good time.
Traditions. I’m sure you all have your family traditions. Growing up, our tradition was that my Dad put the lights on the tree. That was his job. Once the lights were hung, we all had a hand in putting ornaments on. Then Dad would get the tinsel. He’d spend literally hours putting it on the tree one or two strands at a time. No one could do tinsel like Dad. Dad’s been gone 25 years now, and we have our own tradition of trimming the tree. I do the lights, and we all do the ornaments, hanging the Nativity-related ones in a prominent arrangement. Last, my wife takes a picture of my daughter and me putting the angel on top together.
This time of year, it’s good to stop and remember the good times; to recall the traditions. Grandma and Grandpa are gone now, as are Mom and Dad. The traditions change, but new memories are being made that will be fond years from now. Two years ago I did something different when we finished opening the presents. I took my wife and daughter by the hand and prayed a special Christmas blessing for each of them. I hope to make that a new tradition in our family.
But in the hustle and rush of Christmas shopping and stressing over what gifts to get for friends and family, who’s going to whose house and when and for how long, it’s easy to forget the real meaning of Christmas. Scattered throughout the sacred Jewish writings we call the Old Testament were prophecies of the miraculous birth of the Messiah. The writers detailed events which were to take place hundreds of years in the future. God had shown them that the eternal and supernatural was to come to the mortal and natural. God brought His Son into this world that first Christmas morning and entrusted Him to the care of Mary and Joseph. I can’t begin to imagine the feelings that Mary and Joseph must have had at that special birth: the pride and amazement at holding the newborn baby, compounded by the arrival of shepherds who worshipped the Child and told of the angelic pronouncement of His birth. This was no ordinary child with an ordinary future. This was the very Son of God born to bring hope and a future to countless generations to come.
I find that something special and moving happens sitting in a candlelight Christmas Eve service. I guess maybe it all becomes a little more real somehow. I would encourage you to attend a service at the church of your choice and let it touch your heart too. I recall the words of a song our church choir sang one Christmas: “Christmas isn’t Christmas ’till it happens in your heart.” May the Christmas story come alive in your heart and be especially meaningful to you this year.
Wishing you and yours a very blessed Holiday Season, and I’ll visit again in 2005.
Chaplain Bill
chappy@chaplainscorner.org
