"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is one of the season’s most popular songs. You know the song… "A partridge in a pear tree, two turtle doves…five gold rings." The song describes 12 sets of gifts, with a new set presented each day from a true love. However, it is not a song about gifts given before Christmas, and then culminating on Christmas day. The partridge is given on Christmas day; and the other gifts are given through the next 12 days, with the last set of gifts being the 12 drummers drumming.

The Christian tradition, based on the biblical story, also has twelve days of Christmas, starting with the birth of Christ, and culminating with the arrival of the wise men bearing gifts, coming to see Jesus. Both the wise men, and the 12 drummers drumming, arrive on a day that has come to be known as "Epiphany," or "Twelfth Night," starting at sundown on January 5^th.

In our country, of course, we really don’t celebrate Christmas this way. We do all our gift giving on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, and then, we don’t celebrate much after December 25^th. In fact, with the possible exception of New Year’s Eve, we find ourselves rather down after Christmas day. On December 25^th, we feast, we open presents, we get together with family and friends…and then it’s all over. Just like that. We then need to undo all that we’ve done for the past month or more–take down decorations, put away the gifts, say "good-bye" to loved ones. Many of us find the twelve days of Christmas rather depressing, drab…a let down. We find that the time is more of a headache than anything.

In the movie Grand Canyon, a husband and wife are "experiencing mid-life crises of differing varieties. For her, it is the empty nest syndrome. (But) as she is out jogging one day, she hears a crying baby. She follows the cries into a wooded area where she finds an obviously abandoned (infant). She brings the baby home, bathes (her), feeds (her), and dresses (her) in clothes from her own now-grown (child) and waits for her husband to come home. You can imagine the scene. She wants to keep the baby; he knows better. At one point, he lowers his head, rubs his temples, and says, ‘I feel a headache coming on.’ To this, his wife replies, ‘A headache is an inappropriate response to a miracle.’" (The Clergy Journal, May/June 2004, p. 77)

Some of you, I would guess, have already faced the headaches of the season. You are frazzled and worn from traffic and parties and planning. You have come here to try, in the midst of the chaos, to remember the reason for the season; or maybe for you, this service is just one more thing piled on top of everything else. Others of you will get your headache during what is often considered the "post-Christmas season."

The other day when I was taking Sam home from the Bell Choir Concert, Sam said, "hey mom, what do you want for X-mas." Thinking I was pretty certain I could affect him on not calling Christmas by the shortened version, I responded by saying that he should not call Christmas X-mas because it takes the Christ out of Christmas. He didn’t get it. "But mom, we don’t say "Christ"mas we say Christ-mas…so we actually take the Christ out of Christmas." Schooled again by my son.

Many people do think that Christ has disappeared from the Christmas season. There are those who believe that Santa is to blame for the excessive merchandising of the holiday season. We know Christ wasn’t born in December and he is somewhat forgotten, pushed back behind mainstream carols, X-mas sales, and Santa visits. How do you reconcile the Miracle of Bethlehem with the Miracle of 34^th Street? And do we have to?

With this meaning the miracle is still awesome and can be seen anywhere you look. Newborn babies, a brightly lit sunset, children laughing, the flight of a bumblebee. I think it’s a miracle when I don’t get upset at the cars that pull in front of me. That might just be self restraint, but you get the picture.

Miracles are all around us during this wonderful holiday season. This is a season full of religion and celebration — ADVENT, Christ’s birth, Hanukah which is the Jewish celebration of lights. The Islamic holy month of Ramadan falls during the season, and the community celebration of Kwanzaa. All these major events converging at the same time makes this a miraculous season.

I believe miracles are everywhere. Sometimes we don’t see them or think of them as miracles. Small things…people being kind to each other, allowing others in a hurry to go in front of them in long holiday lines. Around the nation, people become subs for Santa for needy families. We become carolers for Christ.

One carol came from the famous Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who penned the famous song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". His son had been severely injured in the Civil War and peace on earth seemed a world away. Longfellow wrote "And in despair I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, goodwill toward men. However, even with the Civil War raging, Longfellow did not end on a note of despair, but boldly affirmed "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead, nor doth he sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth goodwill toward men."

We know that world peace has not come yet, but do not despair, because there is goodwill toward men and women and children in other ways. There are people and evens that bring us back to the essence of a Christ like miracle. People like Ana Andrews from my hometown in Iowa. Ana was 82 years old and she was a cantankerous woman who spoke her mind and coddled no one. Earth shook a little when Ana spoke. The kids in town (myself included) were a little frightened of her. She had recently lost her husband and in this 83^rd year of her life — a horrible winter fire in an old farmhouse claimed the life of her only son, her only child, and her three grandchildren. There was no immediate family left. But like clockwork on Tuesdays 82 year-old Ana was seen driving the "senior citizens" to doctors visits and other appointments, and giving the town a piece of her mind. The next year Ana bought a lottery ticket at Mike’s QuikStop and won $650,000. Mike at Mike’s QuikStop, got a new lease on life, literally because the seller of the ticket gets a cut. My mom went and interviewed her after her miraculous win. She was jubilant but a little sad because her husband had died and they would have loved to use the money to travel around the world — they never could afford to do that before. And sad because she would have wanted her son and her grandchildren to enjoy some of the spoils with her.

Ana was too old to travel — she was getting forgetful, and on Tuesdays many of us stayed out of her way when she drove her friends to their appointments — her driving was a bit erratic and her eyesight was going. But she kept on taking her friends and telling the town how to live — until she could no longer walk well or find her home or remember her name. Ana died a few years later in a nursing home, but not before she had ensured that the small town of Melbourne would always have a prosperous library, that the Methodist Church would have a beautiful parsonage for many minister’s families to occupy, and that the high school would honor yearly one special student with a college education in the name of Tom Andrews, her son. A miracle — I choose to think so; maybe not nearly as grand as angels appearing from the heavens, but a lot more practical.

The miracle of Bethlehem was a one-time event — a grand magical moment with real and symbolic significance that has lasted for 2000 years. The practical applications however, are the everyday miracles that we can not just see and experience in our lives, but also create and make happen. WE can work miracles by making a difference in someone’s life —a small gesture can mean everything at the right moment. When we make miracles, we put the Christ back into Christmas or "Christ"mas.

In the words of a modern Christmas Carol — you don’t have to be an angel to sing harmony. You don’t have to be a child to love the mystery. You don’t have to be a Wiseman on bended knee…the real meaning of Christmas comes from you and me.

CHILDREN IN THEIR LETTERS TO SANTA WROTE THIS:

"DEAR SANTA,

I’M NOT GOING TO ASK FOR A LOT THIS YEAR. SO HERE’S MY LIST-

1. THE ETCH-A-SKETCH ANIMATOR

2. 2 PACKS OF #2 PENCILS

3. CRAYOLA FAT TIPPED MARKERS

AND THE ONE BIG GIFT

4. MY OWN COLOR T.V.

WELL, I GUESS MAYBE YOU COULD DROP THE PENCILS; I DON’T WANT TO BE SELFISH OR ANYTHING."

"DEAR SANTA CLAUS,

WHEN YOU COME TO MY HOUSE THERE WILL BE COOKIES FOR

YOU. BUT IF YOU ARE REAL HUNGRY YOU CAN USE OUR PHONE AND ORDER A PIZZA TO GO. OH, THANKS FOR BRINGING PRESENTS."

"DEAR SANTA,

I WANT A PUPPY AND I WANT A PLAYHOUSE. THANK YOU. I’VE

BEEN GOOD MOST OF THE TIME. SOMETIMES I’M WILD THOUGH."

"DEAR SANTA, (FROM A 4-YEAR —OLD)

I’LL TAKE ANYTHING BECAUSE I HAVEN’T BEEN THAT GOOD,

WHICH YOU PROBABLY ALREADY KNOW."

ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT TRADITIONS THAT HAS DEVELOPED, WHICH ACTUALLY STARTED ON THE FIRST CHRISTMAS THERE EVER WAS, IS THE PRACTICE OF GIFT GIVING. THE WISEMEN BROUGHT GIFTS TO JESUS OF FANCANSINCE, GOLD, AND MYRH. LIKE WISE WE BRING GIFTS TO EACHOTHER DURING THIS TIME IN WHICH WE CELEBRATE THAT FIRST CHRISTMAS.

IN A STUDY I DISCOVERED THE OTHER DAY I LEARNED THAT THE AVERAGE AMERICAN FAMILY SPENDS $800.00 ON CHRISTMAS PRESENTS. GIVING GIFTS AND RECEIVING GIFTS HAS BECOME A PRIMARY FOCUS FOR MANY PEOPLE DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. AS CHRISTIANS I BELIEVE THAT THIS PRACTICE SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN LIGHTLY. WE SHOULD CONSIDER WHAT IT MEANS TO US TO BE GIVING AND RECEIVING GIFTS. IN ADDITION TO THE MANY GIFTS THAT WE WILL GIVE AND RECEIVE THIS CHRISTMAS WE HAVE ONE GIFT FOR WHICH WE CONTINUE TO RECEIVE OVER AND OVER EVERY CHRISTMAS. THAT GIFT IS THE REMINDER THAT GOD SENT JESUS HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON TO THIS EARTH IN THE FORM OF A BABY. HE SENT HIM TO GROW INTO A MAN WHO WOULD WITNESS TO THE PEOPLE. GOD SENT HIM TO SHOW US HOW TO LIVE. HE SENT JESUS TO INVITE US TO LET HIM INTO OUR HEARTS. GOD SENT HIM TO DIE FOR OUR SINS. WOW, NOW THAT’S A GIFT!

OFTEN TIMES WE HEAR ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE DO WITH THEIR CHRISTMAS GIFTS. WHEN I WAS A KID MY BROTHERS AND I WOULD GET TO PLAY ELVES PASSING OUT ALL THE GIFTS THAT WERE WRAPPED SO NICELY UNDER THE TREE. THEN ALL OF US; MOM, DAD, JASON, STEPHEN, AND I WOULD HAVE TO ALL TAKE TURNS UNWRAPPING THEM AND SHOWING WHAT WE GOT. ALWAYS IT WOULD HAPPEN THAT WE OPENED THE PRESENT, SHOW IT OFF, AND TOSS IT TO THE SIDE AS WE QUICKLY LOOKED TO THE NEXT ONE, ANXIOUSLY AWAITING FOR IT TO BE OUR TURN AGAIN. SOME PEOPLE WILL WAIT IN LINE AT WALMART OR WHEREVER TO EXCHANGE THEIR GIFTS. OTHERS WILL IMMEDIATELY USE OR ENJOY THEM. STILL OTHERS WILL DO THE WAMMY OF THEM ALL AND REGIFT THEM. I WOULD IMAGINE THAT THIS WOULD BE THE CASE FOR ALL OF US AS WELL. BUT WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THAT TRUE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS; THAT MOST IMPORTANT GIFT? THE SHEPHERDS FACED THIS SAME QUESTION. IN THE READING FROM LUKE WE HEAR THIS:

THE SHEPHERDS RETURNED, GLORIFYING AND PRAISING GOD FOR ALL THEY HAD HEARD AND SEEN. WHAT WILL YOU AND I DO WITH THE GIFT OF CHRIST THIS YEAR? WILL WE ALLOW IT TO LAST A DAY OR TWO AND THEN RETURN IT TO BOXES AND CLOSETS ALONG WITH ALL OF THE OTHER SEASONAL ITEMS? THAT WOULD BE A WASTE, I THINK, OF SUCH AN AMAZING MIRACLE OF GOD, A WONDERFUL GIFT. WILL WE PUT THE MESSAGE IN OUR HEARTS AND PONDER IT AS MARY DID? HOPEFULLY. BUT I WONDER IF ANY OF US WILL BE LIKE THE SHEPHERDS. THE REGIFTERS. WILL WE TAKE THIS GIFT THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN AND PASS IT ON TO OTHERS? TELLING OTHERS OF THE WONDERFUL GIFT THAT HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US IN CHRIST JESUS. WILL WE ONLY PRACTICE ATTITUDES OF GIVING DURING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON AND THEN WAIT FOR THE NEXT, OR WILL WE PROCLAIM THE GLORIY OF GOD IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR, KNOWING THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE MOST AMAZING GIFT. WILL WE GO FORWARD GLORIFYING AND PRAISING GOD FOR ALL THAT WE HAVE HEARD AND BEEN GIVEN IN CHRIST. WHAT WILL WE DO WITH "THE GIFT?"