Always Christmas

I have experienced two decades of Christmases and I still take them for granted. "It doesn't feel like Christmas," I keep thinking to myself, saying it out loud. December eleventh and it doesn't feel like Christmas yet. But what is Christmas supposed to feel like?

It snowed on Sunday. A good three inches, and the world was white until life stained it. There are Christmas trees decorated in every building on campus. In a few days final exams will be over and I'll be home for Christmas. But it still doesn't feel like Christmas.

I'm not sure what I'm missing. I'm not sure what I'm looking for... or even if I should be. Because the first Christmas wasn't about a feeling, it was about a reality.

Advent. God with us. The one day that changed everything.

Maybe I need to realize that Christmas isn't a time of year where the presence of Emmanuel, God with us becomes a reality, but it is a time when we especially celebrate His ever-present reality. God is with us, not just between Thanksgiving turkey and New Year champange, but every. single. day.

So, what if, for the whole winter the white world stained with living reminded me to celebrate the robes of Christ's righteousness made white by the washing of His blood? And what if throughout December the trees reminded me of the tree on which the Savior hung? What if, in going home for Christmas, I anticipated arriving at my eternal home? 

The first Christmas changed everything, and now everything is forever changed.

I'm not waiting for it to feel like Christmas. It is Christmas. Today and always, Christ, God, is with us.