That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

Christmas sneaks up on me every year these days. I mean, I realize it's coming. The stores adorned in red, green, silver, and gold, the bumper-to-bumper traffic at the mall, and the non-stop Christmas music make it impossible to miss. And yet each year as the holiday draws near I find myself exclaiming, "Holy crap, Christmas is two weeks from today!"

Christmas seemed to take a lot longer to arrive when I was younger. Opening up the doors on that Advent calendar took for-freakin'-ever.

It also seemed to be a little more magical.

Now it's filled with gift wish lists and the stress of finding that "perfect present." Instead of worrying about those who have little this time of year, I worry that I won't be getting my family "enough" for Christmas. I've gotten one person six things - is that enough?? I've gotten another person just one simple, yet thoughtful, thing. Will they be offended?

I don't put up Christmas decorations anymore. It's not that I don't love them - I do. The thing about decorations is that after you put them up, they must be put away. I really hate that part. I put a tree up in my office several years ago and it stayed up until the next Christmas.

This time of year is also filled with plans and obligations - plans for good things, obligations to do good things, but things to do nonetheless. It's easy to become overwhelmed with the busy-ness of the season. Christmas concerts, holiday meals, volunteer projecst... All good things. In fact, those are the very kinds of things that should help me remember the "reason for the season," if you will... but more on that later. Sometimes all the good things on my schedule turn into just one more thing I have to do.

It's as though I've grown up and have peeked behind the curtain of Christmas. No, I've more than peeked. I've seen the wizard. The magic has been lost. Lost in all the places to go, presents to buy, and decorations to mess with. Lost in all the superficial Christmas music.

Christmas used to mean something entirely different.

Each year at the start of Advent I would rush to the kitchen every morning to open the next door of the Advent calendar. I couldn't wait for Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was the most magical night, after all.

It's not because we opened presents on Christmas Eve (we only opened one) or even because there were only a few more hours until Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was always my favorite.

The first thing I loved about December 24th was the Christmas Eve service. The dimmed lights, the candles, the songs, and the fact that we were all there to celebrate something magical. Mystical, if you will. Actually, the word is holy.

We forget that sometimes. Christmas Eve is about love. It's about God loving us so much that God decided to live with us, as one of us. The churchy word for this is incarnation, but that's just a fancy way of saying someone loved us enough to want to be with us forever. That's what it's about - being with the people you love. Loving them, and being loved by them.

After church, my mom, stepdad, brother and I would pile in the minivan and embark on our annual tour of Christmas lights. With carols playing on the radio, we would ooh and ahh and sing our way home, where we would then sip hot chocolate and curl up on the couch to start the 24 -hour marathon of "A Christmas Story."

Christmas morning was just a bonus. Presents have never been the heart of Christmas for me. In fact, I'd almost rather have none. It's not about presents. It's just not. If I am trying to show my family and friends how much I love them by what I can buy or make for them, then I'm not loving them right.

Christmas is a holy time. It's easy for me to forget, but it's true. A holy night, indeed. Every person on earth should feel more loved than they ever have before each time December 24th rolls around, but not just because God loves us. When you're lonely, or stressed, or hurt, or hungry it can be hard to feel God's love. We need to love others, and we need to be loved by them as well.

Something else that's so wonderful about Christmas Eve was that at the end of the candlelight service, where we had just spent an hour reading and singing about the most wonderful gift of love from 2,000 years ago, we were all going our merry ways in order to keep that love alive. We were going out to be with our families, to be with our friends, or to visit the sick or feed the homeless. We were going out to love in whatever ways we could.

Yes, there are presents. And yes, there is cheesy Christmas music. There are even some ugly Christmas sweaters. But there is love, there is that infant Jesus born so many years ago, and it is magical. Holy.

A holy night, indeed.

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.