Yeah, I know. I spaced NFL week 15. And just so there's no confusion, I'm skipping week 16, too. I've been watching and listening, so I am well aware of what is going on, but it's just too crazy right now to sit and properly analyze what's going on in the NFL right now.
I want to send special holiday wishes to my brother, Paul, serving in Iraq and to my brother-in-law, Daniel, who is serving in Korea (just 12 days to go, tho, Daniel!). I just celebrated Christmas early with my family here in Joplin. Obviously, Paul was absent, but he sent Christmas gifts which happened to arrive the same day we opened our gifts to each other yesterday! It was like he was sorta here. We missed him, tho. Daniel is missing his daughter's first Christmas and not celebrating with any family members. It's a huge sacrifice they make and cliche or not, we need to remember them and be grateful for their service. We celebrate Christmas tomorrow with Tony's family. Aria's loving the Christmas x2 deal!
One of my favorite Christmas movies, The Santa Clause, (the other top 3 are Home Alone, It's a Wonderful Life, and The Grinch), has a part where Judy the Elf is talking with Santa aka Scott Calvin. Scott is having a hard time grasping what it happening to him. The dialog quoted here is probably my favorite:
Scott: I see it, but I don't believe it.
Judy: You're missing the point.
Scott: What is the point?
Judy: Seeing isn't believing: believing is seeing.
Kids don't have to see this place to know that it's here.
They just... know.
The last quote by Judy to me is poignant to the holiday. We have faith Jesus came to this earth as a baby. We have faith his ultimate purpose was to die for all of us. We have faith he rose from the grave. We have faith that by believing in and following Jesus, we have the gift of eternal life. We don't see it to believe it, we believe it, so we see it. It's a beautiful analogy, even if in the movie, it's referring to Santa.
I hope you can enjoy Christmas no matter where you are or what you're doing.
Merry Christmas!