A Thrill of Hope

on capturing the micro thrills of Christmas in the calm before the storm, and how to get more "Christmas spirit" if yours is low this year

I awoke at 3:42 am and began my routine of going straight to prayer and then the image above, a photo I snapped after the kids completed their pomanders earlier that day, came to heart and mind. Living with chronic illness, I am quite consistently sleep-deprived and the only way I have learned to fill the hours of the night is to pray. I suppose it’s always the best way to start the day, though if it were up to me, I’d prefer a few more hours of sleep, first. I reached for my phone, pulled up this picture, and parts of my prayer began spilling into a poem. I hadn’t written poetry lately, only bits and lines saved in my phone, but this poem was asking to be written, and so I obeyed.

A Thrill of hope

The Mistletoe is hung,
It’s a thrill to see who’ll stop
With puckered lips and the warm glow of the fire on their cheeks.

The beautiful Christmas tree shines,
It’s a thrill to see the sparkle
On the ornaments and ribboned gifts from catching the tree’s light.

The fruit bowl abounds,
It’s a thrill to smell the citrus and clove
From the pomanders the kids decorated with love by hand.

The puzzle table awaits,
It’s a thrill to see others fitting the pieces together within the border already intentionally done.

The foot massager is out,
It’s a thrill to see who’ll take their turn and what level they will go to for our annual Christmas foot massages.

Louis is nestled on the couch by the fire,
It’s a thrill to see him calm before the guests arrive as soon he’ll be anxious and alert all through the days and nights.

The cookies are baked,
It’s a thrill to see the kids excited about traditions that’ve lasted through the years and now they bake the cookies themselves.

The elf has moved,
It’s a thrill to watch the kids look for him every morning when they first awake, hoping he’ll have gotten into mischief or made a mess.

The rolls of paper and ribbon await,
It’s a thrill to complete the mad rush of the family’s last-minute wrapping, while we watch the tree’s bounty spill into the living room.

O Holy Night plays and causes a pause,
It’s the greatest thrill of hope, amongst my weariness, that moves me to tears of awe and joy because "he appeared and the soul felt its worth".

Christmas is finally here,
It’s a wondrous thrill to be alive to celebrate this joyous occasion with beloved family, a cozy home, great meals, traditions, and memories.

Yes, Christmas is here,
And the greatest thrill is also the greatest gift of them all, 
Jesus is here, Emmanuel;
"Behold your king; before him lowly bend,"
"His power and glory evermore proclaim."

*It seems I cannot add a footnote inside a poem here on Substack, so the above quoted and italicized lines are lyrics from my favorite Christmas song and hymn, O Holy Night.

The calm before the storm

It dawned on me later in the day that perhaps 3:42 am was the PERFECT time to ponder these treasures of home and the Christmas season. Perhaps, as company begins to arrive and we are finalizing laundry and where all the linens go, and grocery trips, and all the last-minute things in preparation for a house-full of guests and dogs and family that these treasures might otherwise be missed.

I don’t know about your Christmas day, but ours tends to get a little chaotic, in the best of ways. Pajama-clad, morning-hair kiddos and adults, holding coffee or peeling oranges from their stockings, sit, sprawled out on the couches and floor amongst piles of papers and ribbons and laughs and photos taken and new gifts being sampled and explored. We often joke it looks like a tornado came through before the first brave soul, or the one whose mess-threshold has finally been reached, grabs the black yard-waste-sized trash bag and begins to pick it all up, while I grab all the ribbons and bags to reuse for next Christmas and my husband, the king of recycling, ensures everything is sorted properly for recycling drop off. It’s a thrill, in its own, but I’m so grateful for this opportunity to treasure the calm before the storm, and not let it pass me by; I’m so grateful to feel the thrill of hope, amongst my weariness.

I have heard from more folks than usual this year that Christmas just doesn’t feel the same. Each year, it seems a little magic is stolen and along with it, a little “Christmas-spirit.” There will always be the loss of loved ones, or loved ones not there with us, there will be financial woes, and sickness, and really hard family situations (we are in one of them now and have been for a long time). We are a weary world, always, in “sin and error, pining.”

Pining - a desperate longing, feeling discontent and fret.

Is that you, too, this Christmas season?

Perhaps you need a sacred moment, without distractions, to capture the “micro” thrills of the season or they will pass by, unseen, and with them goes a little Christmas magic, a little '“Christmas-spirit”. Oh, there is so much beauty in these small thrills and they are all FOR and BECAUSE of Jesus.

The celebrations and gatherings and gifts and food is all wonderful, but it’s Jesus that brings them all together. It’s Jesus who gives us this opportunity to capture the joys and thrills of the season, despite the weariness in our bones. It’s all Jesus, friends. And our pining, our longing, it can ONLY be filled with Jesus, not a Keurig or waffle-weave robe. And this Jesus that we celebrate is IMMANUEL. That “Christmas-Spirit” is IMMANUEL. Do you know what that means for you? The Christmas magic is WITH YOU, it’s within you. It doesn’t go away, despite the hard things we also carry. If your Christmas Spirit is low, perhaps Jesus is the only gift you need this Christmas. Or need more of.

Don’t miss what Immanuel does this Christmas. It’s not too late.

Don’t forget to look UP, friends.

Dear readers,

I’m praying blessings, the receiving of IMMANUEL, joy and peace over all of you this Christmas. Thank you for being a reader here.

Merry Christmas, friends.

Love, Kelly