Yesterday I went shopping with my daughter, Katelyn Hope Croston, for the first time. We were Christmas shopping. Oh the fun we had. I think it’s the most quality one on one time I spent with her since she was born 9 months ago.
I strolled her around the Hartville Marketplace. We smiled at each other. I asked her questions. People smiled at her and talked to her. She smiled back a bit. She is such a good baby. The time filled my heart with peace. I think it is one of the ways GOD fills hearts. By time with the ones we love.
Time with the ones we love is one of my favorite joys of Christmas. It could be one on one time, a group sitting around a table, three singing carols outside a door, five watching a movie, twelve gathered around a tree, or a congregation singing before a manger in remembrance of the birth of the savior. All great joys of community.
So as I get to take in the joys of community with my daughter’s first Christmas by shopping with her, dancing to Celtic Christmas music, reading Christmas stories to her with her brothers, and other first memories of Christmas with her; I encourage you to take in the joys of Christmas around you: Family, friends, children, the older generation, those in need, co-workers, strangers, the saints, Jesus.
As Luke says about JESUS’S mother, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” May we follow her lead this Christmas.
First Friends Young Adults 