Christmas Eve
December 24, 2025
Christmas Eve 2025
Over the many years, Christmas Eve has changed for me. As a child, I could hardly fall asleep for all the excitement. There would be gifts and surprises, especially the ones from Santa! And we were excited to make the long drive the day after Christmas, to Grandma’s, where wonderful meals and family stories awaited us.
Every Christmas Eve night, Mama would take us into the front yard to look for the Star of Bethlehem. To us, the brightest star in the sky had to be that sacred star. We retold the story of how it guided the wise men to the baby Jesus, and there was something magical, almost electric about believing we were gazing at the very same light that shone before Jesus’s birth. We imagined the baby Jesus in the manger, Mary, Joseph, the angels, shepherds, and the wise men. For me as a child, that star was something still alive from that first Christmas … it was burning radiantly just as it did on that special night long ago.
When we grow up, much of the magic of Christmas can fade away. Instead of anticipating the goodies, the presents, and the events, we are the ones making, buying, and planning them. Some things still feed our hearts for the sacred season, but in deeper and more profound ways.
As an adult, I know that the bright star in the Christmas sky is Sirius, or perhaps the North Star. I know that astronomers tell us the Star of Bethlehem was an entirely different and singular celestial event from these. But those facts never stopped me from taking our children, Ben and Lauren, into the front yard every Christmas Eve to search for the “Star of Bethlehem.” To see in their eyes that same amazement I experienced at their ages was always my best gift of Christmas.
Even now, without fail, I step out onto the front porch each Christmas Eve and look for that holy star. And in that quiet moment, just as I did when a child, I imagine the Christ Child, his parents, the angels, and the wise men. And somehow, I am there again with my mother and with my children; held by the spirit of love.
May your memories of this sacred season warm your heart, sustain your spirit, and surround you with the radiance of love’s pure light.
