Frosted windowpanes, not likely...

This is such a great time of year. I love Christmas lights, music, the anticipation of snow (ok, it's 82 degrees outside, I can still wish, right?). Christmas carrolers, new toys, shiney wrapping paper and presents under the tree. This is with out a doubt, my favorite time of year.
Thanks to fabulous parents, who put effort into making a celebration out of every possible situation, I live a life steeped in tradition. To continue what my parents started, my husband or I read the Christmas story out of Luke 2 nearly every morning to our children. His version takes longer than mine. He stops every few lines to explain things like taxes, espoused-wifes, and where Galilee, Nazareth, Judea, and Bethlehem are. I am not sure the kids completely have a grasp on the importance of what "the house and lineage of David" means, but if hubby has anything to say about it, they will be able to eplain it to you by the end of the year!

When I read Luke 2, no matter what version, or translation is infront of me, what comes out of me, is The King James Version. Not that I see that as the only viable translation of the Bible, it is just the version that was read to me in some formative years. By the time I was in early elementary school, I had heard Luke 2:1-20 hundreds of times and even had most of it memorized. My sisters and I would sit around the table with our mostly finished pancakes and occasionally crunchy waffles and listen to, read, or recite these beloved passages. I guess this is what it means to hide God's word in your heart. There have been so many times where I would be awake at night and lay there thinking and praying, and find myself searching my heart for verses to speak back to the Lord. What always comes up, is Luke 2. Whether in June, February, or the middle of December, the words come as easily as breathing.

" And it came to pass, in those days, there went out a decree from Cesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed...."

Thak you Lord for sending your son. Thank you that he was born in a stable and that his first visitors were stinky shepherds. Thank you for telling us in your Word how He came to be born in Bethlehem.