Day 24 of Advent and I Forgot to Title This Post: Good Thing Christmas Doesn't Rely on Me to Keep it Going

The glory of Christmas, specifically the glory of Christ, is not limited to Christmas card moments.

"Hope is the Jesus gift, Love is the offering, Everywhere, Anywhere, Here on earth."

These lines came from a New Zealand Christmas carol. I'm blessed to have a friend who lives there. My friend Sue and I share warm Christmases. Mine is warm because my wintertime is typically warm with only a rare snow every twenty years or so. She has a warm Christmas because it is summer down under the equator!

"Sing a nativity summer can reach… Right side up Christmas belongs to the universe."

I don't know the tune, but I'm loving the song. Here are the full lyrics with some "warm" Christmas pictures, one of which is our Christmas tree, now inside but still "undressed." If you did not do all the decorating you wanted to do, nor all the baking, then go to the link I include at the end where you can read that Christmas is sometimes more found among the homeless than in any shopping mall or theology class.

1. Carol our Christmas, an upside down Christmas; 
The snow is not falling and trees are not bare. 
Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child,
Warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air.

Sing of the gold and the green and the sparkle,
Water and river and lure of the beach.
Sing in the happiness of open spaces,
Sing a nativity summer can reach!

2. Shepherds and musterers move over hillsides.
Finding not angels but sheep to be shorn;
Wise ones make journeys whatever the season.
Searching for signs of the truth to be born.

Right side up Christmas belongs to the universe,
Made in the moment a woman gives birth;
Hope is the Jesus gift, love is the offering,
Everywhere, anywhere, here on the earth.

3. Carol our Christmas, an upside down Christmas;
Snow is not falling and trees are not bare.
Carol the summer, and welcome the Christ Child,
Warm in our sunshine and sweetness of air.

And, now for that link (I know…me and links don't always work out, but you can always copy and paste it :D)

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/tmatt/2013/12/telling-the-nativity-story-with-help-of-two-foster-boys/

May your celebration of the birth of our Saviour be filled with a joyous wonder of who He is and that, truly, life in Him is filled with His glory and His peace -- a peace that passes all understanding.  

P.S. Had to go back and add a title; then as December 24 comes to a close, I realized I posted this as Day 23…it has been that kind of a day; nonetheless, Christmas is coming! :D