Christmas Eve is absolutely my favorite night of the year. Folklore would tell us that Samhain, or the time around Halloween, is when the veil between the worlds is the thinnest and the spirits of the next world are more present in ours. I respectfully disagree. To me, it's around this time of year when the veil between worlds is thinnest; when you can almost feel the tendrils of Heaven being drawn down to earth and a little nearer into our reality.
People give more charitably this time of year. This Christmas, for example, despite the recession, mystery "Santas" are going into Kmart stores all over the country and paying off stranger's lawaway account balances, to ensure these strangers' children have toys and gifts to open on Christmas morning. People donate more food to the needy, and ensure the elderly have a warm meal and some company, because they recognize that no one should be alone at Christmas. Carolers will stroll the halls of hospitals and nursing homes tonight, carrying Pointsettas and comfort to those they sing for, including those whose time on this earth is drawing short.
I believe the repeated act of blessing others brings the ideals of the heavenly world down here to earth, and those things happen most during this time of year. That's why I love Christmas Eve more than any other night. It's the time when the blessings flow the strongest, when those who give do so, abundantly, and those who need, receive the most. Tomorrow it will be all about wrapping paper, electronic toys that buzz and light up, family dynamics and enough food to feed an army. But tonight is all about the blessing, and the feeling that when the night falls and our world goes quiet, this sometimes selfish and troubled planet will intersect with God's kingdom of Heaven just a little bit. And we will be the better for it.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
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