It is Christmas Eve. The Advent Season and this calendar now come to a close.

Many things tonight will not occur as they ought. Who ever could have envisioned a year in which the divine services for Easter, Advent, and Christmas would be snatched away? Or situations where relatives just miles apart would fear being together for Christmas dinner?

Some of you, though, have churches with the doors open tonight. Please pray and sing on behalf of those who cannot attend. Some will be appreciating the creativity and care put into on-line services by pastors, priests, organists, and choir directors, each doing his or her best to convey Christmas Eve and Christmas Day liturgies. Still others will create services in the intimacy of their living rooms, relying on the voices and energies of their children to make a glad noise.

Either way, Christmas Morn will dawn, the first day of the Christmas Season. In some households, there will be joy, coffee and pastries, and overly sugared squeals of the young. In others, there will be loneliness, isolation, and worry. It is always so. This year, though, the contrast seems starker.

Meanwhile, perhaps you have the tradition before bedtime tonight of reading the story of Christ’s Nativity from the Gospel of Luke. Especially if you also read something like the inimitable Night Before Christmas—a poem hard to beat in its concision and impact—here is another to consider: a brief French tale about Christmas Eve called The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff. It is a lovely old story, and can be tweaked into a dozen other narratives.

Remember too that, while broadcasters pull the plug on Christmas music, you and I don’t have to. Some of us are just closing the Advent section in the hymnals. The wondrous repertoire of seasonal music is ringing freshly in our ears.

Keep making holiday foods (if you wish). Tackle the stack of Christmas cards with impunity (if you wish!). Enjoy your decorations. I find it fun (if puzzling to the neighbors) to put up new lights and garland as the Christmas Season progresses. After all, you can find some good bargains starting December 26th and kids never tire of decorating.

Let me close now by expressing my deepest appreciation for the amazing privilege of accompanying you on this year’s journey through Advent. Your grand comments and thoughtful emails were precious to us. And may Christmas 2020, however these days unfold for you, be a blessed, fulfilling season for you, bringing hope and strength for the new adventures and challenges ahead.