A Simple Christmas Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t shake the boxes or worse, open and reseal them. (She’s heard the stories.) Of course, she hides things so well that every year, there are at least a couple of presents that she can’t find again. Some Christmas items don’t arrive until March or April when she accidently stumbles across long-lost and virtually forgotten Christmas packages. This only validates my still-strong view that we should give the gifts upon purchase to avoid such embarrassing moments as having hidden the presents so well that a team from CSI has to come in and help find them.
    I admit that I’m a bit obsessive on the patience at Christmas issue, but most everyone wants Christmas to come sooner rather than later. I’ll admit that maybe my eagerness for presents is a bit extreme, and I’ll admit that some things are worth the wait (at least having to wait to get that brand-new toy or gadget makes it even more exciting when you actually do get it), but Christmas is not just about the gifts, the food, and the decorations. I think the excitement over Christmas comes from a longing in the human spirit to know if there really is a God and, if there is, to get together with him right away. For hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus, the prophets were telling everyone to get ready because He was coming. They thought it would be soon, though it didn’t seem to be happening on their timetable.
    When it did happen, it really snuck up on just about everyone. God obviously didn’t want the kind of manufactured joy and superficial “frou-frou” that would have inevitably surrounded a highly publicized entrance on the planet. He kept things simple. And He kept us waiting and never caved in to the impatience, even the petulance, of the prophets and priests who thought His coming would bring glory to them. After all, wouldn’t it be worth the wait? If everlasting life isn’t worth waiting for, then what is?! By the time Jesus really did show up in Bethlehem, some of the most religious people and the high religious leaders had things all planned for His arrival, and they were pretty much in the center of the whole show. That’s one of the reasons they didn’t recognize the event when it did happen. The elaborate and opulent entrance that they envisioned never took place. No palace, but instead a little cave full of farm animals. There weren’t fine linens and silks like they had prepared, just some strips of worn cloth that were used to wrap up the little baby.
    This to me sounds like the perfect Christmas. Idon’t mean the dangerous labor that the young Mary had to go through or the fear she and Joseph must have felt knowing they were all alone in the desert with no one to help them deliver this child into the world. I mean the lack of pomp and wrapping. I never have liked all that wrapping, and I’ve spent my life wanting to take the wrapping off the things people give me. I just can’t wait. I believe that gifts should be given in a spirit of goodwill, not a spirit of “You can’t have it until the day you’re supposed to have it.” Maybe it’s a character flaw, but I like to think of it as part of my spiritual DNA. I really believe that the arrival of Jesus on earth is such a big deal that I can’t wait to find out about it. I’m ready to unwrap Him and get Him moving around and doing big things. I can’t see a reason to keep Him hidden from everybody. A lot of people need Him now. This is the true meaning of Christmas. The presents are just something extra, and couldn’t it be argued that making people wait until Christmas to open their much-anticipated gifts takes the attention away from what Christmas is really all about? I think that’s a pretty good argument, don’t you?
    I know I need to be more patient about some things in life—I really do. Maybe this year I’ll make a concerted effort to not shake the boxes under the