"On the Second Day of Christmas...."

No, people, it's NOT over! Advent is over... Christmas started yesterday... and today is only the Second Day of Christmas. We're just getting warmed up around here! Our lights are staying lit, the tree is going to be enjoyed for another week and a half, and each day between now and Epiphany I'm going to publicly celebrate one more aspect of the wonder and the blessing of ongoing Christmas JOY.

Everyone has heard several standard, traditional, interpretations for "The Twelve Days of Christmas" song. But I'm going to go with my own this year.

That said, there's no way I'm messing with Christmas Day! The "Partridge in a Pear Tree" simply has to be Jesus, and the gift of Christ is and always will be the foundational bedrock of any reason to celebrate. The coming of the Christ-child remains the most awesome event in history.

But today, the 2nd day of Christmas, my "two gifts" - the two turtle doves - are Andrew and Naomi. "On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - Andrew and Naomi...."

It even rhymes - kind of - if you draw out "Na-o-mi" and give her her three very distinct syllables! They are both most definitely a gift from my true love; from the stand point of my true love being Rebekah and my true love being God. I can't say enough about the blessing of being a parent right now.

My scripture for today is this short passage from Luke 2. When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. Everyone listened and was surprised. But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant.

When we were raising our two turtle doves we were constantly "thinking about all this and wondering what it meant." Wondering was our natural state of being. It's hard to see beyond the immediate present when you're raising children. But those were a short couple of decades. We always knew that Andrew and Naomi were special gifts and that our home was exactly where God was "working his purposes out"; we never doubted God's faithfulness, no matter what was going on.

Of course that's easier to say now. But the thing is, we always believed God's providence was at work. Sometimes we still "wonder what it all means"; but that's just a part of the adventure.

Thank you, God, for our "two turtle doves". Rebekah and I are blessed beyond measure or understanding.