I have a confession to make: We barely decorated for Christmas this year. The extent of our festive furnishings is a humble 15-inch plastic tree in the middle of our kitchen table.

How did it come to this?

Let me start by saying I love Christmas, and I generally approach the season with an all-in mindset. In a normal year, the carols are playing from early December, the pantry is stocked for celebrations, the calendar is full of Yuletide events, and a Christmas movie is playing most nights.

In 2024, a hurricane of events has forced us to scale back our ordinary observances.

It all began in May when we found out that my wife Angie was pregnant with our second child. This miracle news turned our plans upside down. Instead of returning to Indonesia where we had been serving as missionaries, we knew the arrival of baby number two called for a more settled existence after years of country-hopping (it’s a long story that you can read about here).

So after departing the United States in August and spending two months in Indonesia wrapping up our project, we arrived in Australia at the beginning of October and moved into the house we bought as a rental several years ago.

Our first few weeks were spent furnishing, turning completely bare rooms into livable spaces. We then made the ambitious decision to undertake some significant renovations before Christmas in order to make our home more livable for our growing family. Walls were removed, new floors and kitchen pantries were installed, and we also had our bathroom and laundry completely remodeled.

Throughout this time, we have done whatever was necessary to get by, including living at my parents’ place for a few weeks, using the kitchen sink as our bathroom, eating lots of takeout, and sharing our bedrooms with building supplies.

In short, it has been an exhausting few months, and I am glad to say we are almost at the finish line.

When I was tidying our chaotic garage the other day, I finally burrowed deep enough to discover our long-lost Christmas decorations. Angie set aside a few rushed minutes to recover a tiny Christmas tree from the box, and she hung on it some nostalgic ornaments. Voila.

In the days since, carols have been echoing through our house as we add the final touches to our newly renovated home. At last, we are slowing down our pace and taking time to reflect on the season before us.

As I pause and look around, there is one thing that stands out most of all, and that’s the big bump protruding from my wife’s belly.

In the midst of all our busyness, it has been easy to forget the reason our lives have been so full this year. We finished up in Indonesia and moved back to Australia and renovated our house and made many other small sacrifices along the way for one primary reason—namely, a baby who is about to come into the world.

Thus, here in our own lives we find a powerful echo of the very first Christmas.

My poor, pregnant wife—who has tolerated long travels, countless discomforts, and a lingering sense of impermanence—can relate well to Mary, who spent the better part of a week riding sidesaddle (if not walking on foot) from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And I empathize with Joseph, who strove against all odds to provide a comfortable abode for his wife just in time for the baby’s birth.

Like Mary and Joseph, we’ve raced across the finish line and had no time to decorate—though we are grateful to have a few more luxuries than the holy family enjoyed to help us welcome our newborn.

Now, as the distractions clear, the reason for the season comes into full focus. It’s all about the baby. Even when we forgot why life became so frantic in 2024, it was always about the baby.

But here’s the big contrast between the first Christmas and our Christmas: The baby born in Bethlehem was the central figure of all history.

Jesus entered this world as Immanuel—“God with us.” He stepped into our broken world to show us what God is like, to declare that our Creator has not forgotten us, and to redeem Creation from the curse and repair our relationship with the divine.

We might have renovated a house these past few months, but at that first Christmas, God renovated all of Creation, and He has promised to make new every heart that receives him.

Look again at the photo above, and notice at the bottom of our humble Christmas tree the small ornament depicting the holy family. We’ve been using it to teach our daughter Elsa how to say “baby Jesus” and to explain to her what Christmas is all about.

In all your end-of-year merrymaking, may you be drawn back to baby Jesus and reminded that He is the reason we celebrate.

From my family to yours, Merry Christmas!

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Image credit: public domain