nostalgia usually paints things with a rosy brush so that we overlook the pain of the past for whatever pleasure we enjoyed in its midst.
consequently, i can’t remember any unpleasant Christmases, although i know there were years when just about everyone was terribly ill and we weren’t, so to speak, in our normal Christmas spirit.
this year is odd.
it seems like everyone i know is tired, used up, worn out, and somehow at the end of a rope.
it seems like the whole world is that way.
which, as it turns out, is actually a good thing — when we realize how incapable we actually are at life, then we can truly see how much we need Jesus.
then we can remember what Christmas is all about, charlie brown.
oh come, Thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by Thine Advent here
disperse the gloomy clouds of night
and death’s dark shadows put to flight
rejoice! rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, o israel
;( Aw, I don’t want everyone to be sad and sick!