When I was a kid, the Christmas season was all about looking forward to something great.  I looked forward to the arrival of the Sears Christmas Wishbook so I could begin to mark the pages with the things I wanted.  I looked forward to taking down the decorations from the attic and decorating the tree and the yard.  I looked forward to sampling the Christmas goodies that came once a year.

I looked forward to our Christmas Eve tradition of driving around town to see the lights (especially Mrs. Wright’s nativity set and the Charlie Brown display at the Zachary’s house). I also looked forward to putting out cookies for Santa and to his handwritten note I would find the next morning on the napkin. Amazingly, it always said the same thing (“Ho! Ho! Ho!”) and always resembled my dad’s handwriting!

Christmas morning, I looked forward to Dad reading from Luke 2, opening presents, eating something sweet, and loading up the car for the drive to Port Arthur (where my grandparents and most of my cousins lived).  The drive itself was filled with anticipation.  Who would be the first to spot the polka-dotted house in Buna or the “Big Bridge” in Bridge City? Who would already be at Grampy and Granny’s house, ready to welcome us with big hugs when we turned off 10th Street onto the shell-covered driveway? (there is no other sound like tires on a shell-covered driveway).

As I look back on my Christmases of yesteryear, I’m still convinced that Christmas is about looking forward to something great.  Hopeful anticipation is in the DNA of Christmas.  

The coming of Jesus had been anticipated for centuries by the Jewish people.  The wise men from the east looked forward to finding the Christ-child.  Mary and Joseph longed for Jesus’ arrival – an arrival that was and is the essence of Christmas.  Without it, there is nothing of true significance to anticipate beyond this life.  Because of it and his life, death, and resurrection that followed his arrival, we have the greatest of all things we look forward to. Paul writes:

…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.  – 2 Corinthians 2:9

Christians celebrate Christmas because of how and why Jesus came and what he accomplished.  We celebrate because we have something so great coming we cannot even describe it.