May all your popcorn disappear.

Thirty-four years ago, my one-year-old son and I were alone for a Christmas on welfare. I had no gifts to give, no friends to be with, and a five-dollar bill in my pocket. I drove aimlessly through the streets of the city on Christmas Eve, face wet with tears, baby gooing and gurgling in his car seat.


I thank God I had the presence of mind to pray behind the wheel. And somehow, through my self-pity, came the realization that I did indeed have $5 in my pocket and my baby in his seat. I did have a family, and we were all together.


I took my $5 and headed for a Christmas tree lot, where I bought a pretty mangy-looking tree, and then to a grocery store, where I spent the rest of my money on a bag of cranberries.


Back home, I stood the tree in a corner and started making popcorn-cranberry strands and paper-loop garlands with a happy, drooling one-year-old. I'll never forget how puzzled I was that the strands were disappearing before my eyes until I realized that my son, sitting at my feet, was eating the popcorn as fast as I was stringing it. Alone in the apartment, I laughed with him till my sides hurt.


I don't remember anything else about that Christmas. I have no recollection of Christmas Day or contact with my parents on the other side of the country, or what we ate for Christmas dinner. But I will never forget the revelation of who my family was, and how quickly a toddler can devour popcorn.


This Christmas, my body aches and I'm short on cash. But as I just wrote to to a friend, the birth of Christ is in our hearts, not under the tree. It's always possible to make Christmas out of the things around us because, in fact, they are God's gifts to us.


Here's wishing you a blessed (and relaxing) time as you get ready for the upcoming holy day. May all your preparations be filled with joy and inspired by the light of Christ!


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