An Hodie! Experience

Yes, it happened when I least expected it. I don't know about you, but putting up the Christmas Tree can be a stressful event. Our pre-lit tree is now 5 years old, so it is beginning to show a little bit of age (i.e. some of its lights now require me to push and search to find why they will not come on). I was in the midst of such a search -- two half strands were not lighting and I could not find the replacement bulbs. Now, we have a unique tree (I know this will strike you as odd since I am so normal) -- our tree has bulbs that are faceted and the guy gave us some extra bulbs when we bought the over-priced tree when I asked if we would ever be able to find replacement bulbs. So, when we had burned out bulbs, and I couldn't find our bulbs, it wasn't a matter of running to Target to get some -- there is no such animal. I was stressed -- half the tree was up and the other half was still in the box, I couldn't find the replacement bulbs, the tree was not positioned correctly in the window (yes, there is an exact position for the tree in the midst of our front window!) -- the kids (Kile, age 7, and Max, age 3) were wanting to put the ornaments on the tree before the branches were properly fluffed from being in the box. Gincy, my wife, had the vacuum out cleaning up one of the glass ornament explosions on the floor. And, that's when it happened ... right when I thought I might get into the medicinal "spirits" -- at the end of my mental rope ... Max, looking at the half constructed Christmas Tree in the midst of the chaos, jumping up and down, said, "Daddy, It's Christmas Time!" Kile, bouncing from leg to leg, chimed in, "We need some Christmas Music!" And lying on my back, underneath the Christmas tree, with the whirling sounds of the vacuum right in my ear ... I heard it ... the prophet Isaiah saying, "And a little child shall lead them."

I got up and said, "You're right." We need Christmas Music! I turned on the TV to the "Holiday Sounds" channel and went down stairs to look for the bulbs. And, amidst the endless shelves of boxes, I found them -- the replacements lights! And, the strand where I couldn't find the "bad" bulb ... when I begin fluffing the tree limbs, it started to flicker. There it was!

The vacuuming was finished -- All the lights were working -- Santa's fiber-optic head was placed on the top of the tree (Max's choice this year) -- "It's beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas" blaring from the TV ...

BIT: No, the ornaments are still not all on the tree. The room has not been straightened. My roast for dinner turned out to be a disaster, but still ... I had an Hodie! Experience ...