Christmas Light

This had to be our most unique family Christmas. It was completely different than we ever planned or imagined.

We have gone to Patrick’s parents’ house for the past 4 years. It took a while but we adjusted to hot, sunny Christmas days in Brasilia. We love it. It's our summer vacation spot. What could be better than a beautiful, comfortable apartment next to a lovely pool with home cooked meals and Grandma's love? Seriously, does it get any better than that?

We've been planning, dreaming, and talking about this for the past couple of months. The kids can't stop talking about what they want to do with Grandma. Elena has planned her cake pattern for their traditional Grandma/granddaughter Christmas cake. Nathanael knows what video games he and Grandma will be playing. How cool is it to have a Grandma that plays video games with you? And Joel, well, he's mainly thinking about the presents; that's what 4 year olds do. Patrick and I have discussed the places we would like to go in Brasilia. I've gone so far as to suggest that we make a list and schedule out the days making sure we have time to do every thing we want. Yep, that’s me: planning and scheduling the fun. :)

Anyway, we were so ready to go. We planned school up to the day. We worked hard to finish 1st grade with Elena and get half way through 3rd with Nathanael. We even did school into December after the Brazilian kids were already out. Every Christmas party had been attended, every project at church completed, the house was cleaned, the laundry done, the fridge cleaned out, the presents wrapped, and all that we lacked was putting things in the suitcases.

Then everything changed with the blink of a light. We were driving home the day before our trip when the fuel injection light came on in the car. We couldn’t believe it. Hoping it was a fluke and would go off Patrick and I stared at it all the way home. When we got home Patrick immediately checked the owners’ manual, and we were totally bummed when he read that we should take the car to a mechanic. No problem. We’d call in the morning.

Bigger disappointment hit when the mechanics we called told us they couldn’t get us in before the next week. The next week? But that was after Christmas. How were we going to drive 13 hours to Grandma’s house? We discussed renting a car but the cost was just too much. We knew it would be wiser to use that money to fix our own car. With sad hearts we called Patrick’s parents and asked if we could wait to go until after the car was fixed. They were very understanding, and we felt better. Then we had to face the kids and tell them. It was amazing how understanding they were.

Everyone was okay with our new plans, but my mind of course began to start thinking of the details. We lacked any kind of Christmas preparations in our own house. We had celebrated our family Christmas time already thinking we would be leaving. There were no more presents to open. There was no special Christmas food. We couldn’t drive our car. It was definitely not the way we had planned.

Yet, God was in control and pretty soon details fell into place. We began receiving invites for Christmas Eve dinners and Christmas day get-togethers. A friend offered us her car so we could get to the events.

The fact we didn’t have any more presents really bothered me. We don’t want our kids to think that Christmas is all about the gifts, but it is nice to have something to open that day.

The day before Christmas Eve Patrick went to the Post Office, and I stayed home and prayed that God would allow at least one of the packages we were still waiting on to come in. I could have cried when he walked in the door with not one, but four packages! I happily wrapped the presents that we had ordered weeks before and that others had sent for Christmas. As I write this it is two weeks since Christmas, and we have not received a single package since that day. I truly believe that God delivered those boxes on just the day we “needed” them.

So we had a unique, simple Christmas. We celebrated with friends. We ate some amazing food. We rested and enjoyed our home. We read Christmas stories and made gingerbread houses (after walking to the corner store to buy an assortment of packaged cookies and raiding the kids candy bags). We watched Christmas movies and sang carols. Instead of being caught up in the hustle and bustle we were snug in our home together celebrating the birth of our Savior and thinking that any day we would leave for Grandma’s house.

Yet, here we are two weeks after Christmas still waiting on our car to be repaired. We still have plans to go to Brasilia and celebrate Christmas. The empty suitcases are still sitting in our room waiting to be filled. The wrapped presents waiting to be put into the car. I have cleaned out the fridge twice and the house numerous times thinking we would be leaving, but we’re still here.

It’s funny how a little light can change all of your plans. On a night over two thousand years ago a little light (from our perspective) signaled the birth of our Savior, the Light of the World. It prompted the start of the wise men’s journey from the east. It would come to trouble Herod. But for us, it pointed down on One for whom all history and humanity was waiting. His Light makes all those other Christmas lights--whether they shine in the sky, from your Christmas tree, or from the dash of your car--fade into the background.