Its not always the way we expect...

Lyrics below from Andrew Peterson's Behold The Lamb of God..
It was not a silent night
There was blood on the ground
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyways that night
On the streets of David's town

And the stable was not clean
And the cobblestones were cold
And little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love

Noble Joseph at her side
Callused hands and weary eyes
There were no midwives to be found
In the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night

So he held her and he prayed
Shafts of moonlight on his face
But the baby in her womb
He was the maker of the moon
He was the Author of the faith
That could make the mountains move

It was a labor of pain
It was a cold sky above
But for the girl on the ground in the dark
With every beat of her beautiful heart
It was a labor of love
For little Mary full of grace
With the tears upon her face
It was a labor of love

We usually intend to go into the holiday season with a great attitude and that everything will go just the way WE want (cooperative kids, gift items found with ease..preferably on sale :), and just a general sense of the way it 'ought' to be). However, even the best laid plans usually do not turn out the way we plan. However, God's plan is the greatest plan of all through the life of His son Jesus which is the reason as we should not forget what all of this Christmas is and should be about. If nothing else gets done, Jesus was still born, we still celebrate HIS birthday and all of the other 'stuff' is just that...stuff. I am not saying that I didn't purchase, wrap, ship the gifts, I'll make the dinner, and most of all, I will see joy in the eyes of my children which will make all of the "work" worth it. Just as Mary did not expect to have her baby in a manger, in the end, it was all worth the labor of love to be able to hold the maker of the moon and the author of the faith. And for that reason, we'll do it all again, year after year, celebrating the greatest story ever told and perhaps seeing just a glimpse of the joy that must've been felt that night that changed our lives forever.