For buying presents?
For decorating trees?
For sending cards?
Baking fruitcakes? (Okay, I know that one’s a stretch. Who has time for such an enterprise in this day and age?)
All these things are fine, but they do tend to obscure the Reason for the Season, don’t they?
Before the birth of Christ, the earth was shrouded in darkness–spiritual darkness, the very worst kind. And then, oh amazing, holy, eternity-altering night, a door was flung open, and the Light of Heaven itself entered the world, broke through the barrier, and changed the rules forever. And of all places, in a stable–in the presence of animals, the innocent ones, the pure-hearted ones.
My mother used to tell me, as a child, that on Christmas Eve, at midnight, all the animals in the barn would talk, celebrating the Birth . I always wanted to be there to witness the phenomenon, but, of course, I never made it. I was asleep, with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head, long before the midnight hour. And it’s just a story, anyway.
Isn’t it?
My new barn is still in the planning stages, so there will be no midnight visit this Christmas Eve.
But next year?
I might just head on out there, when the clock is about to chime twelve times, with my ears and eyes wide open. And my heart, too.
About Linda
The daughter of a town marshal, Linda Lael Miller is a #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of more than 100 historical and contemporary novels, most of which reflect her love of the West.
Raised in Northport, Washington, Linda pursued her wanderlust, living in London and Arizona and traveling the world before returning to the state of her birth to settle down on a horse property outside Spokane.
