…I certainly hope it is not just me. But I am not ready for Christmas. I am still waiting for the trees to change, and show me their orange, purple, and red coats. But the snow came. Early. On Halloween in West Michigan.

So I did not get to enjoy the crisp air; the smell of leaves falling to the ground; the apple cider being made fresh at the Orchards all around me. The places I would take my girls to pick apples, and go home and make apple crisp.

They are demanding the Christmas treats. The ones I will only make after Thanksgiving, but never after Christmas. But I just don’t want to make them. I do not want to make my homemade peanut butter cups; the same ones my Mom would let me eat early out of the fridge before Christmas. The Magic bars that my girls insist I make for every holiday, but will never get put in the oven until after Thanksgiving.

The things that make Christmas; well, Christmas.

Christmas to me is the candlelight service on Christmas Eve where a candle is passed among the congregation as Silent Night is sung. It is looking down the pew to see my girls, and the significant others that are with them, as we sing and praise Jesus for giving us this opportunity to worship.

It is also a time when I reflect. On how I did not do what I promised I would do. I did not deny envy in my heart. I did not volunteer at every opportunity I could. And I did not witness to my Savior, I did not acknowledge that he was, and is truly, in charge of me.

I did not change the world.

But I still can tomorrow.

What can you do tomorrow?