As we’ve spent the last four weeks of Advent looking at the culture around Christmas, you may have noticed something: outside of the Gospel accounts, A Christmas Carol, and the connection we already mentioned in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, there aren’t very many popular Christmas books. While we’ll fill our ears with the sounds of Michael Bublé and subject our eyes to poorly lit Hallmark films, we don’t do a lot of Christmas reading.
Except for one famous 1823 poem penned by American author Clement Clarke Moore titled A Visit from St. Nicholas, known colloquially by its first line “Twas the night before Christmas.”
The poem features all the hallmarks of Santa Claus with a sleigh full of toys, reindeer, and freshly fallen snow, making it a staple around Christmas time. In fact, it’s hard to separate A Visit from St. Nicholas from Christmas Eve and little children with expectant eyes, full with the joy and hope that only the night before Christmas can offer.
But perhaps what A Visit from St. Nicholas captures is best is the sense of magic that often comes with Christmas time. As the narrator breathlessly describes his encounter with Santa, it gives us the sense that there just might be some magic left in the world (the rhyming couplets help).
While the narrator is feeling the magical wonder of the arrival of Santa, it’s worth turning our attention to the magical wonder of the arrival of Christ. Imagine the wonder of the shepherds when the night sky was lit up by the heavenly hosts. Imagine the wonder of the wise men when they finally arrived and found the child they had heard about. Imagine Mary and Joseph’s wonder at all of the events around the birth of their son.
Tomorrow we celebrate Christmas. It’s the incarnation of Jesus. The arrival of the Savior—the hope—of the world. It’s worth pausing and remembering how our world was forever changed on the most remarkable, unremarkable night in human history. Merry Christmas!
Conversation Starter: What’s been a favorite moment from Christmas this year?