Dec. 26, 2012 – Ah, here we are again — it’s Christmas Eve, and I’m enjoying it already.

Later this evening all around Susanville and Lassen County, the little ones will be rubbing their eyes — trying to stay awake — hoping they might actually be lucky enough to hear the noisy clatter of reindeer hooves on the slippery rooftop, the heavy footsteps of a jolly, bearded, old saint clad in black boots and a red and white suit or his belly bursting, “Ho, ho, ho!” ringing out across our snow-covered desert. Maybe if they’re really lucky they might even catch a glimpse of this gent and his team sailing across the Christmas moon (that good old Waxing Gibbous) as they lumber off in their present-laden sleigh to visit other homes in Standish or Litchfield or Doyle or Herlong. They know they will have to have been really, really good all year long to even have a chance of meeting Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. Still, they’ll rub their eyes hard and wish and wish and wish.

Yes, when bedtime comes they’ll begrudgingly crawl beneath the covers in their cozy pajamas and cling to their pillows, dreaming of those wondrous wonders hidden inside the brightly colored presents they’ll find all ribboned and bowed and wrapped beneath the Christmas tree when that long, thin dawn cracks the morning sky and the sun finally pokes its blazing head over the Skedaddle Mountains on the eastern edge of the Honey Lake Valley.

They know as they lay their heads down to sleep Christmas morning will come — one way or another — no matter whatever else might happen.

Downstairs, Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa and the rest of the old ones will finish all the preparations, making sure everything will be as perfect as can be when the little ones kick off their blankets and run to the tree with a yell and a shout at the first morning light.

Christmas is a day for families, a day for love and joy, a day for giving and receiving. And we shouldn’t forget the real reason for the season — the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As you and yours gather for your own holiday celebration, I’d like to wish you all a very Merry and Happy Christmas.