The magic, the wonder of Christmas

There I was, up the other night, poring over some details for the "to-make" part of my Christmas To Do list. I wasn't baking anything, but let's just say I was making a cake.

I worked on it late into the night, just tweaking the basic "recipe", hoping to get the ingredients as "right" as possible. Eventually, it was just the dough part of it -- from mixing this and that together, that I managed, before I really had to go hit the sack! And the next morning, at the first chance I got, I couldn't wait to "bake" it!

Up till that point, everything looked pretty OK. Straight out of the oven, I still did not think anything was amiss. Then came the "moment of truth", like the icing on the cake -- only, it was anything but that.

What went wrong? After all the fiddling and fussing, the time and effort put in, it was a disappointment. It was the fine print. The fine print that I had failed to read, that a certain ingredient I'd thought looked good, was not compatible with another! I had to get new supplies, to make it work.

But the point being, I had missed out on the fine print, and if only I had got that message the first time.


With Dec 25th just round the corner, it was a timely reminder for me, at the Christmas concert the other evening, when the head of school said to focus on the magic, the wonder of Christmas.

The music teacher led the schoolchildren, from JK all the way through sixth grade (4 years and up, to 12 and 13 years old) in this yearly production, that in itself, was a grand celebration of the reason for the season!



This time round, Jon's class also had chimes (bells) they played, that had a really nice ring to them, and blended in well with the piano accompaninent. Still, these could not beat the children's voices themselves, lifted up in praise of God, for Jesus, His greatest gift to us.

This, being the meaning of Christmas, to us Christians, and I have to remind myself not to be carried away with the much to-buy and make, and whatever else to-do for the special day. Am I overlooking the "fine print" to it all? The message, yes, that underlying message of the magic, the wonder of Christmas!

For the concert, Vern tried his best to get a good shot, but the dimmer lighting and our basic flash and zoom function didn't really help. Here are a couple of quick shots, that are slightly clearer, taken before and after the event...

Jon and some of his classmates anxiously waiting for the concert to start...


Ben and his friend Stewart, both there to support their elder sibling(s)... with a "Cheeeeeeeese", and how about a funny face?!


Jon beams a "We did it!" after that wonderful children-led worship experience!