Christmas Eve Eve

I love Christmas Eve Eve.

Mostly because my favorite day of the year is Christmas Eve. By Christmas Day it already feels like its over to me - Christmas Eve sums up all the anticipation and joy of the season. It remains the most magical evening of the year. There's always some sort of family get together on Christmas Eve. The kids are bubbling with excitement. Santa will be here soon. All the decorations are finished, all the wrapping, all the buying. You can just sit down - for often the first time that December - and soak it all in.

Plus, Christmas Eve has more of a ring to it. :)

Though I usually quote Snoopy's Christmas during this time of year (#2 on Top 5 Favorite Secular Christmas Carols, only beat out by Carol of the Bells) I've recently gained a new appreciation for an old standard.

Thus, I give you It Came Upon a Midnight Clear performed by Sixpence None the Richer. I should return before Christmas, but in case I don't, know that this is my hope for you: that all of you have a very merry holiday, that your celebrations be filled with loved ones and that the birth and beauty of Christ be fresh your hearts. Love you all.

For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophets seen of old.
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold.
When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.