Finding Holiday Magic in the Baking Aisle ... And Beyond

"We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."  ...   John 1:14

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Very early Saturday morning I stepped into the baking aisle of our supermarket, then stopped my cart (you can pause safely only when you beat the crowds) and spied this sign over a cake mix pyramid:

Share The Holiday Magic.

Oh my, the baking aisle always feels like 'holiday magic' to me. More than usual this morning, even, because Josh Groban began singing O Holy Night (have you heard him?) when I spotted the powdered sugar and remembered French toast with Tom on dark mornings in California. I glanced at the baking cocoa and recalled making brownies in a floury apron, then setting them on a plate for an 11-year-old Naomi after school in Nevada. 

All those lemon meringue pies I made for Tom's birthdays. The cakes I baked for families we invited over to dinner in my 20's and beyond. The sugar cubes I bought one year to add tiny frosting flowers to as decor (but never did). The Christmas cookies Naomi and I baked together, the spiced nuts I placed in decorated canning jars for friends.

Every Saturday I step into that baking aisle and all those memories greet me, bursting upon me like silent, warm sunlight.

I stared at that sign some more. Holiday Magic? No, mine is 'Everyday Holyday Magic' and it's not confined to the baking aisle or December, either. Everyday Holyday Magic cannot be crammed into one month, nor rushed through a blur or bought with money. It's best experienced at a peaceful heart rate while taking only peeks at the Past, but never lingering there until regret seeps in.

No, God dwells in Today. On far-off yesterdays we knew Him not as well, nor walked closely enough to touch His arm and--for that reason-- yesterday was poorer and Today feels richer. 

At least, that is how I've found it to be.

Today is better because we know Him better...

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"Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God ..."   ...Psalm 84:10

"My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others.  Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?"..... Bob Hope, who brought love and hope to service people throughout the world every single year of his long career


"Peace on earth will come to stay when we live Christmas every day."
... Helen Steiner Rice



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Free Kindle books:



It Came Upon a Midnight Crime

The Christmas Shoppe