Can you sense and feel it in the air?

Long before Christmas Day, we have a sense of its coming. By Thanksgiving Day Christmas parades children are already making out their lists of things they hope to find under the tree and each day after that it builds a little more. Days until Christmas vacation from school get counted down. Advent calendars get hung weeks before stockings get hung waiting to be filled. Cookie recipes get pulled out from family favorites long before they are baked or placed on a plate waiting for Santa to enjoy them when he pops down the chimney.

No matter how grim the headlines or steep the challenges we look for the good things we believe Christmas can bring. Even if we have no certainty a gift will be able to be purchased or a meal with all the trimmings can be managed, we look toward Christmas with optimism or at the least, hope for something better.

The Christmas gift of anticipation comes long before all these other things.

It always has! And we believe it will come because it always has. It has come in lean times and times of plenty, in times of war and times of peace. It doesn’t rely on mankind to make it happen because it is God’s gift to the world. And for a few short days we catch a sense of the gift to us, and it changes most of us, softens our edges, warms the coolness of our faith, and strengthens our awareness of God’s resolve despite us.

It’s what causes us to risk believing once again, to hang stockings that are empty with the anticipation of good gifts filling them. It was that hope of believing for something better that lays behind what happened on Christmas Eve in 1914 in the muddy trenches during WW I. It’s a story worth remembering and worth honoring.

History tells the story like this:

A member of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment was shivering in the muck and trying to keep warm on Christmas Eve. Fear and sleeplessness had been his constant companions and then about 10pm that night, he began to hear a noise, a murmur of voices, coming across the field where his enemies had been firing upon them. As he listened more closely and asked a soldier about it, he became more aware that the sound drifting over the cold night air was that of the German soldiers singing carols.

And then in the darkness, some of the British soldiers began to sing back and then a shouting from the German side echoed back saying, “Come over here.” It was unthinkable to respond to the enemy’s request, but one of the British soldiers suggested he come halfway and asked them to come halfway as well.

What happened next would, in the years to come, stun the world and make history. Enemy soldiers began to climb nervously out of their trenches, and to meet in the barbed-wire-filled “No Man’s Land” that separated the armies. Normally, the British and Germans communicated across No Man’s Land with streaking bullets, with only occasional gentlemanly allowances to collect the dead unmolested. But now, there were handshakes and words of kindness. The soldiers traded songs, tobacco, and wine, joining in a spontaneous holiday party in the cold night. 

Incredible? Yes, but true! And even more miraculously, it wasn’t confined to that one battlefield. Starting on Christmas Eve, small pockets of French, German, Belgian and British troops held impromptu cease-fires across the Western Front, with reports of some on the Eastern Front as well. Some accounts suggest a few of these unofficial truces remained in effect for days. It became known as the Christmas Truce.

During the horrors of that war so long ago, the anticipation of Christmas hushed the guns on the battlefield without an order ever being given and bridged “No Man’s Land” as enemies sang carols.

What could we learn from this story as we anticipate this Christmas where more division and strife pervades the world than we could have imagined, and friends and family members stand at a distance and at odds with one another over a long list of wounds, bitterness, and anger?

Could we allow the gift of anticipation to shift our focus as it did that Christmas Eve of 1914 as men laid down their arms and became just men instead of mortal enemies.

Who but God could have brought such a wondrous gift that night? Only He could have produced anticipation amid hopelessness and misery on that bloody battlefield.

But that is just like God! He offers the gifts of Christmas despite our condition, without reservation.

So long ago God gave the glimpse of that when He promised that Christmas would come, a child would be born, and would transform our sorrows and offer us hope. Those who looked for that day often wondered if it would ever come. Over time, some doubted and gave up, but for those with ears to hear continued listening and looking. They were the very same ones who would show up to greet Jesus without an engraved invitation.

They were the humble shepherds tending sheep on the hillsides to whom the angels appeared. They were the wise men who had studied the prophecies without even being a part of those who were promised this gift of a Savior. Their anticipation prepared them to hear the good news of a child born in a manger and they had to go see this for themselves.

As we consider “The Gifts of Christmas – Anticipation” and sense that anticipation this Christmas season, are we also anticipating that same One will return and keep listening and watching for that unknown date? The first Christmas did not have a fixed date on the calendar. The next one won’t either.

God has already given us the Christmas gift of anticipation and it isn’t about the presents (or lack of them) under a tree.

It’s that time of year again that some lyricist described as “the most wonderful time” and as the calendar turns to the first day of December, we already see homes and businesses already decorated with glittering balls and lights. Beautiful Christmas trees are peeking out from the windows of some homes and our mailboxes (electronic and the old-fashioned kind) are filled with catalogs and ads of all sorts to urge us to get busy buying gifts for those whom we love and seek to bless. Children of all ages are making out wish lists of things they are hoping to find under the tree this Christmas.

With all of that it can be easy to get caught up in the whirlwind and forget that not everyone feels that way about this season. Some will be dealing with loss and grief and nothing that usually delights them during the Christmas season will have the same appeal. Others will be dealing with illness of all different kinds and will be focused more on trying to get well and overcome the maladies than heading out to shop or begin decorating. And still others will look longingly at all the trappings around them but be unable to consider any of them as attainable due to their own economic state. And some more religious folks will be reminding all of us that Christmas isn’t about all these trappings.

Over the course of my life, I have experienced many Christmases that have touched on each of these. Maybe it is important to not view any of them as right or wrong but rather to acknowledge that life happens moment by moment and those events do not stop happening at Christmas. Death, illness, nor job loss or poverty take a break for this season of the year.

Maybe there is another perspective to consider as we move steadily into this Christmas season. Maybe we forgot that we have already received some gifts that will not be wrapped under the tree. They come to us whether we are sad or happy, healthy or ill, rich or poor, old or young.

Let’s look at some of this in this series about “The Gifts of Christmas.”

As I reflect on this, one of the first gifts that comes to mind is that of sacrifice and that may seem an odd gift to some of us.

For some it will remind us that someone who cares about us sacrificed to provide us with what we enjoy this season. We may not have all the wrapped presents we hope for despite those who love us sacrificing to offer us the best they can as a reminder of their love and care for us.

But there is more…

We all experience Christmas because of the sacrifice that gave us the babe in the manger who is supposed to be the focus of this whole season. It’s not often we think about God’s sacrifice, Christ’s sacrifice, at Christmas. We do that most often at Easter. But Christmas is also about the gift of sacrifice.

God looked down on his creation and observed that ever since that day in the Garden of Eden when mankind fell in temptation, fellowship was broken between Him and them (not to mention with each other). Of course, He was prepared for that as well and had a plan to sacrifice. His son, Jesus, would lay aside all his authority and kingly trappings and take on flesh and become a helpless baby and live life among us, experiencing all the realities we face.

God didn’t choose earthly parents of high position, wealth, or education. He chose a young girl betrothed to be married to a man who committed to lead her and their children in the ways of God. The baby’s life would begin in a humble place – a stable, surrounded by animals rather than physicians. His earthly dad would be a carpenter, not a priest or ruler.

No one could have guessed on that starry night in Bethlehem that this tiny infant born to a poor young couple would be the champion to fight against all the powers of hell that sought to separate mankind from God. Yes, they had heard a Messiah would come but they were looking for a king with all the trappings of royalty, not a baby and not in Bethlehem in a manger of all places.

His first gifts would not be gifts usually a boy would get. No balls, trains, shields, swords, or blocks. Instead, He would receive the gifts suited for a king and royalty and the gifts would not come from relatives but strangers (wise men) who had followed a star and the story foretold of his birth.

God gave. Jesus sacrificed and left his Father, and this was the Christmas gift He came to offer one and all, no matter their station in life. His mission was to be reunited with the creation of mankind and show them the truth of the love He was offering.

Without the gift of sacrifice, there could be no Christmas.

The “family vacation” is part of most of our memories. For many of us there was one special place we fell in love with and visited most every year. For Natalie Ogbourne that was Yellowstone National Park following that first trip in the winter when as a young teenager her parents drove there from Iowa to introduce her and her brother Matt to this wondrous place. 

Natalie’s new release, Waking Up in the Wilderness: A Yellowstone Journey, takes the reader on a journey she experiences again and again over four decades. If you have traveled to Yellowstone National Park this book will bring back many memories but likely remind you of so many places you missed or missed in all seasons of the year. If you have never been there, her adventures will invite you to step out and visit a place unlike any other. Within this park you can experience whatever level of adventure that suits you and the delights and dangers it can give. Whether you prefer hiking, canoeing, fly fishing, snowmobiling, camping or staying in a lodge or cabin, Yellowstone can offer you solitude or a sense of isolation and no one can tell you more than Natalie.

Her first trip there led her to a job working at the Old Faithful Inn at the age of 18 following her high school graduation. This opened her eyes to the park she had only sampled on that first family vacation. Despite not being an avid hiker or outdoors woman, she fell in love with this natural wonder and it drew her back over and over again. She introduced it to her husband who had never seen it and felt the draw of its majesty and magic to then sharing it with each of their three children from their infancy into adulthood.

It was the wilderness that stirred something inside her that forced her to face her fears of its wildlife, powerful swirling rivers, narrow mountain trails, thick woodlands where trails could disappear, and more. She came to know them in the spring when mountain snows could still happen in May, in summer when meadows blossomed with wildflowers, in autumn when days grew shorter and nights were sometimes very cold, and in the winter when fewer visitors were in the park and some trails that were open meant only snowshoes or a snowmobile could take you to your destination over many feet of snow.

One adventure with warning signs of bears and closed trails Natalie described as follows:

“Sometimes the weight of the wilderness sits more heavily than others. This was one of those times. As much as I worried about bears, sometimes even I managed to forget about their presence. Here, walking as we were on the fringe of a forbidden forest, the sign and the message loomed.”

Natalie had no desire for a bear encounter but the adventurous spirit of her husband, Jaime, helped her to discover places many never see.

“What’s true on the trail is true in my life. I want to take the road less traveled. I also want to feel comfortable and safe. Rarely is this the same road…the wilderness was always teaching me something.”  Natalie Ogbourne

I understand the draw of a place like Yellowstone because my husband and I have always been drawn to the mountains as a place of wonder and respite from demanding careers, a busy life, and noisy world. The tug from our home in Ohio was always west to the mountains after our first trip to sample them. That included several trips to Yellowstone and the Tetons next door. This book brought back fond memories and a tug to revisit those places.

Natalie has something awaken in her beyond what her natural eyes and ears discovered.

“We’re learning to read not only the rivers, but a little more of creation itself. We’re learning to notice glimpses of goodness as expansive as the western sky. And we’re learning to acknowledge the grace in it all, grace that shapes and sustains us.”

Natalie also learned the value of a guide in her journey that taught her much about trust.

“Walking with a guide has a great deal to do with trust, and I was no better at it in the terrain of my everyday life than out here in the wilderness.”

The wilderness is spoken about in many places including biblical stories and though it may seem daunting, it also draws us there to help us see what we cannot see anywhere else.

“The frontier of our life is built on the straight edges of the manmade world with its buildings and schedules, its lines to stay inside and molds to fill. Here, in the spacious light of wilderness masterpiece shaped by a more gracious hand, we were at home.” Natalie Ogbourne

This book is a marvelous journey led by a skilled guide.

Photo by Pam Ecrement of a special place in Yellowstone for us