I can’t believe Christmas is only 12 days away. I know I’ll blink a couple of times and it will be over. Unless you’re one of those people who believe in the 12 days of Christmas through January 6. The older I get, the more I’m inclined to the old-school way of seeing Christmas beyond December 25. It makes sense that people back in ye olden days would make it a two-week feast because one day is just not enough to celebrate the birth of Emmanuel, God with us.

But still, the older I get, the more I see how time flies by. Part of me misses being a kid and having to wait for what seemed like an eternity for December to creep by and Christmas to arrive. These days, I sneeze and 30 minutes have gone by.

The older I get, the more I appreciate the quiet moments of the season and the less Christmas is about stuff. I mean I still have full-on Obsessive Christmas Disorder and will continue to buy Christmas movies, music, shirts, and anything else festive. But I also love the gathering together of believers to celebrate the Advent season more and more (and especially the Christmas night of worship my church did recently).

Christmas means that the promises of God are always right on time and never late. Christmas means that God in Jesus has come into our world and is with us still, even when the nights seem darkest and hope seems most remote. It’s fitting that we celebrate the birth of Christ close to the winter equinox when the days are shortest and the night are the longest. After December 21, the days get longer again and after December 25, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.