December 24 – “Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve.  How "normal" would today be?  We have the usual last minute errands to get done for the Christmas Eve service.  That begins with picking up the ten dozen donuts by 11:00.  They close at noon.  When they found out what they were for, they even gave us a ten percent discount.  Every year we give away donuts on Christmas Eve to people who have to work.  Firemen, Policemen, convenience store workers, bars, ferry operators, contractors, Centerpoint energy guys – all have been the recipients of a box of donuts from a Seasider.  It's one of my favorite times of the service – to see who grabs a box and hear where they plan to share it.   We had lunch with Nathan and April at Shrimp n Stuff.  It's one of those "secret" places that locals know about – very little ambiance, but really good seafood.  Then we had to make a quick trip to WalMart.  Now that has always been one of my personal Christmas Eve traditions.  Go to WalMart and walk around watching people do last minute Christmas shopping.  Chris has never been with me before.  She never wanted to deal with the crowds.  But this time we needed to pick up an iron.  Yep.  That thing you use to get the wrinkles out of stuff.  We used to have one, but it got wet.  So she got an iron and I got to watch people.  Everybody's happy.  We even found some icicle lights on sale for a dollar fifty.  We snatched them up, but we don't have anyplace to hang them right now.  And if we did, we don't have any electricity to plug them in.  But we will.   The Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion service went pretty well.  We had a lot of visitors and not very many Seasiders.  I wore my new black Ike dress shoes.  Boy, did I ever think I was dressed up.  Until Hutch got there in a full on suit.  At least he was still wearing sandals.  Then the little guys, Matt and Will (age 3 and 4), came in dressed … up.  They had suits and little ties and vests.  Talk about showpieces for the evening.  There were Methodists from Katy and Catholics from Pirates Beach and Baptists from Galveston all gathered together to say Happy Birthday to Jesus in our Seaside way.  All the donuts got new homes, and one couple even bought six dozen more of their own to give away.  We caroled and shared held our candles high in honor of the little baby who grew up to die … and not stay dead.    After the service we went out to the Stone's house in Santa Fe.  Every year they have a big Christmas Eve party and Jim cooks up a storm.  This year I got some of his pasta and a few hunks of dead chicken (they raise them now).  But my favorite every year is a crab dip they make that is great.  Took me awhile to find it, though.  I was really hungry, too.  But when I did uncover it I dug in.  I told the people around me that I could go home now.  I had found the mother lode, and it was time to feast.  Now that I think about it, though, the true "mother lode" actually found me back when I was eighteen and depressed and without a plan in my life.  Romans 10:20 quotes Isaiah talking about the Lord, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me."  I don't think I so much chased God, as he very calmly and gently sought me.    Father, thank you for the kind and gentle spirit you have with your rambunctious children.  That would be  … me.  Amen.