“Oh candy the apples
Oh shell the nuts
Oh crackledy crack yum yum
Trink trinkle around the taffy box
Oh yum gulp gulp and yum!”
Eloise at Christmastime (which if you have never read, then I have no idea how Christmas Eve even comes in your house…)
Pour a glug of Irish cream into your coffee and bask in the thrill for a moment.
I know you have things to do, I know it is Christmas Eve and there is at least a temptation to feel more overwhelmed than elated. Resist it. Be still a moment and marvel. Marvel at the humanity of God in the manger, marvel in His putting aside His glory that He might be with us, that He might take on the justice we deserve and give us mercy in its place (mercy bought and paid for, mind you. What is free to us came at great cost to Him). No, dear reader. It is not hassle and frazzle that lies before you.
It is JOY.
Joy worked out in your fingertips, joy spilling out your lungs in the form of carols and hymns, joy that lights every candle you can find because Light overcame the darkness (and so your darkness too will get no reprieve — He will finally banish it, every last vestige of dark and sad and weary), joy that laughs at the mess because you are now free to relish the mess-making! And if your eyes will not stop filling with tears, and your heart tightens at the thought of having to co-exist with merrymaking while you are weighed down by sorrow, then this is for you: Look up. Your salvation is near, relief is near. He has not forgotten you, He has not left you in your affliction (He proved it — look at the Baby in the manger. He did not stay afar off from our ugliness and complication then. He will not today. Or tomorrow). Joy is coming for you, too.
https://adventuresincooking.com/gingerbread-with-buttermilk-and-lemon-zest/
I have had 3 favorite recipes this Christmas, all fairly new to me, and this is one of them. Yes, it is super cool if you have the right pan (I went ahead and bought one this year and have already used it so much, it has paid for itself in my mind), but this is tasty regardless of shape. And yes — I think it would make a lovely breakfast, especially a Christmas breakfast. Could it be that you, on this quiet, excited Christmas Eve, are in need of reminders that truly, celebration is our birthright? If so, take it. Have a reminder on me.
“That is what I pray for you and for all of us, that the Savior may throw open the gates of heaven for us at the darkest night on Christmas Eve, so that we can be joyful in spite of everything.”
Maria von Wedemeyer to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, written to his jail cell
December 10, 1943
Merry Christmas!
Ellen
Merry Christmas to you & yours.