When we were all seated and the candles arranged before us, my father began reading a narrative of Jesus' birth. We chose pink for Mary, blue for Joseph, white for the angels, green for the shepherds, brown for the wise men and a small, cream-coloured candle for the baby Jesus. Once my sisters and I had gathered the candles, my dad told us to pick the ones that best represented the Biblical characters of the Nativity. However, as my dad searched for matches and we three girls carried out our assigned task of scavenging for all the candles in the house we could find, it was clear that something special was about to happen. But devotions? Hadn’t we already put in our "God-time" at church? I was used to our typical Christmas Eve ritual of going to church and then coming home to prepare a plate of cookies and milk for Santa. I remember feeling a mixture of curiosity and reluctance the first time he announced we would be holding a Christmas Eve family devotions. Originally intended as an activity for a church service, he realized it could be a wonderful tradition to start in our own home. One day, as my dad was reading through a Christmas edition of a magazine for music directors, he came across a Christmas candlelight drama. While my parents bought us Christmas presents each year - and Santa usually left behind "evidence" of his visit Christmas morning – my parents wanted to make sure our budding hearts and minds knew exactly what Christmas was really all about. It’s the same setting I’ve found myself in almost every Christmas Eve, whether seven-years-old or 27-years-old.
My mother’s fingers move softly across the piano keys, and we’re taken to a different world. My sisters and I are giddy with the excitement of it all, yet our minds are drawn quickly to my father’s voice as he begins to read us a story. My sisters and I curl up in our favourite spots on the sofa – our nightgowns on and teeth brushed.įor most kids, this is when imaginations whirl with the possibilities of what tomorrow, Christmas day, will bring – new toys, books and games, and enough sugar to make our teeth ache.
The family is all home, the gifts are sparkling under the tree and the Christmas lights shine colourfully from green boughs. It’s that magical time, late Christmas Eve.
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