%PDF-1.7 1 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Outlines 2 0 R /Pages 3 0 R >> endobj 2 0 obj << /Type /Outlines /Count 0 >> endobj 3 0 obj << /Type /Pages /Kids [6 0 R 19 0 R ] /Count 2 /Resources << /ProcSet 4 0 R /Font << /F1 8 0 R /F2 9 0 R /F3 10 0 R /F4 11 0 R /F5 13 0 R >> /ExtGState << /GS1 14 0 R /GS2 15 0 R /GS3 16 0 R /GS4 17 0 R >> >> /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] >> endobj 4 0 obj [/PDF /Text ] endobj 5 0 obj << /Producer (dompdf 3.1.0 + CPDF) /CreationDate (D:20251103004547+00'00') /ModDate (D:20251103004547+00'00') >> endobj 6 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 7 0 R >> endobj 7 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 1855 >> stream xXMFWj8"2223@ZdS VI.WMH bWzZ0Ð.?q#%7 ɶX)E NJ7ֲ(۷’t4RvoMqNJ W'Im/Eฺ|7#);{_ǩ{pbmގiqz#Ui)qьbt2b%I4lG^ r}_/1X5#؊mEP(`BʿCOgt_iulBWjFArd5hIhaPQOoHl! ȗB D+#=٣ĮIIuO>D.eG0`X*4-5 WY)%εo]0KY ^b BCR(`V>`&etOfx /0N LO&=Z&[g>'EKhw)wuZ;_S)Z%`N̥࿴sT95*dt+:N`R~֍rЭk߰}@4' /Vk20rATY6n 4=Hx❏c@*4ѼuACÍ8jK%H=ߓ(vbRf"(>P ~X)PF&e4P@Ѹ0nt('.|L9N+Y?-ޞ*WgL>: m353[rܲibc-JGק_f>`\"[eYl0*>A=[QG}z2+e/'QjFlCeE[tdqć糭 ;V^GZq=$rP}i4Z?ԓtqbϚabG:sg:Ԛ/\X[sZ1-k'Z(8G.ӀdH8lnQa]tR$5RIfs DP0ƍ{Xb|;h%8pzFJȵ=Цݼu/Wʼs`!Z\1qL4$QnߣG)dH_\U`7D;mڵ; =B   *ٸWZcyM ,p$mhV2%s ~GDB5p {=tJv')Irwc9a8bh@ Y">6n> 1ADP?×ᙧþ`2j&-] #r,L_wȼ+~قiR&M3HfXwKAȏwhyX-?ﮯ g^/lBwE&i~mY9Y)_`fss:~o"A endstream endobj 8 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F1 /BaseFont /Helvetica /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 9 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F2 /BaseFont /Times-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 10 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F3 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 11 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F4 /BaseFont /Helvetica-Bold /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 12 0 obj [6 0 R /Fit] endobj 13 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F5 /BaseFont /Times-Roman /Encoding /WinAnsiEncoding >> endobj 14 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 1 >> endobj 15 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 1 >> endobj 16 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /CA 0.3 >> endobj 17 0 obj << /Type /ExtGState /BM /Normal /ca 0.3 >> endobj 18 0 obj [6 0 R /Fit] endobj 19 0 obj << /Type /Page /MediaBox [0.000 0.000 612.000 792.000] /Parent 3 0 R /Contents 20 0 R >> endobj 20 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 701 >> stream xmTMo0 WNzۊka+۰b3V[$9F3G)i ,-Shmm"$ig7JU+4B6;lШFuB=:aKZ&i ǗhvX;*:5jiKol [C?a6Wu!ʬ`H7}dq v t^C䑭-A#;Xl6lQ}14DèjOxQ0 5AlHoU"'$ix@ 둁I0Dx14e),Ѫ휈kQVI @; DEEhvXwQ \IH<צ?˃" 3z7mӜw"'LX-MpOM_Qaq~jgO8ėy 4'?/cZ;h9 ӳ eR}ð>H_<ݞ2} bLlKJcb6ë́}uUb"(ʵHʘn|i4#qi4ڳ0Ozsq|\Ӏ6h:~ idmcb)iLL﯑EǤ)#Dz$+*"U%D}zj)e^]gι],g8dފ=㥺f- GiZ,_Ú!2r^z;{ za gV2Թ- ?BZ endstream endobj xref 0 21 0000000000 65535 f 0000000009 00000 n 0000000074 00000 n 0000000120 00000 n 0000000390 00000 n 0000000419 00000 n 0000000568 00000 n 0000000671 00000 n 0000002599 00000 n 0000002706 00000 n 0000002814 00000 n 0000002924 00000 n 0000003037 00000 n 0000003066 00000 n 0000003176 00000 n 0000003233 00000 n 0000003290 00000 n 0000003349 00000 n 0000003408 00000 n 0000003437 00000 n 0000003542 00000 n trailer << /Size 21 /Root 1 0 R /Info 5 0 R /ID[<2e7dd7e7b4f0b022854ba53bb335f075><2e7dd7e7b4f0b022854ba53bb335f075>] >> startxref 4316 %%EOF When Christmas is green | Caring Magazine
Read Caring Magazine Volume 29

Vol. #29

Hope in Action

Read Issue

Latest Impact StoriesView All

Popular Topics

PopularView All

When Christmas is green

December 14, 2006
3 minute read
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
Listen to this article

CHRISTMAS REFLECTION

by

When I was a child growing up in Southern California, I always prayed that it would snow on Christmas Day. This would require a small miracle, of course—but I knew that God could pull it off if he so desired (or if I could sway him). My pleas would commence around Thanksgiving, and might even last through the morning hours of Christmas Day, if I were feeling particularly earnest. However, Christmas temperatures seldom ever dipped below mildly cool. One exceptionally warm Christmas, I watched with disdain as my neighbors played basketball in shorts and tank tops. Sure, it was over eighty degrees that day. But didn’t they at least have the decency to pretend it was cold outside?

I don’t have to explain myself to you, dear Reader. Everyone understands what it means to be “dreaming of a white Christmas.” It is the idyllic, romantic picture of the holiday. Somewhere in the last 2000+ years our image of Christmas morphed from a warm night in a Middle Eastern desert to a snow-filled day where carolers scuttle about in muffs and scarves. As an adult, I did finally experience a few snowy Noels while living in Colorado. But they weren’t as perfect as I thought. I found myself actually yearning for those green California holidays. I had the snow I’d always wanted, but I missed the Carr family (my family of origin) and our detailed litany of Christmas rituals.

I gave up my Christmas fantasies years ago. My dinner table will never look like the one in the magazine, I’ll never have the perfect tree, my extended family may never be fully accounted for in one room, and I will never again get to sing carols in the living room of the house in which I grew up. I will never meet my father-in-law this side of Jordan, and he will never laugh and play with his grandchildren or carve our Christmas turkey. He died, by the way, on Christmas day. My husband, Rob, was 18. His absence is keenly felt in Rob’s heart every year.

But Rob and I have learned to look around us and enjoy what we do have. Which is a lot, by the way.
I suppose Mary was disappointed that she didn’t have a real cradle for her firstborn child. I suppose she regretted the fact that her mother wasn’t there for the birth, that the nursery wasn’t set up, that she didn’t have cute baby booties. It wasn’t the perfect birth scenario a soon-to-be mother imagines. I wonder if Joseph was disappointed, too. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to be. He hadn’t slept with this young woman yet, and she was giving birth. He couldn’t even secure a room for the night.

And yet, into the imperfection of the first Christmas night came a perfect Savior. Here was the One, the only One, who could restore us both to God and to each other. His entrance was meek, for he came as an infant. And yet, his entrance was wildly invasive. Think of it: God as man. God amongst us. The perfect dwelling with the imperfect.

Into our flawed Christmases, into our failed lives, comes a perfect Savior. Perhaps, indeed, everything is just as it should be.

Download this page as a PDF

You May Also Like