Away at Christmas

December 22

My first Christmas away was courtesy of the U.S. Army. I was stationed in the tropics and it didn't look or feel like Christmas. For a Northern guy palm trees with lights, carboard snowman on lawns and temperatures in the 80's wasn't Christmas.

For me Christmas was the smell of evergreens, real snowmen, and a chilly breeze in the face. This soldier was homesick and having a real pitty party for himself. Christmas carols on the radio depressed me and the few Christmas cards I received made me feel worse.

Some enterprizing GI's had parked a tank near the commissary with eight jeeps in front of it simulating reindeer connected to the tank by ammunition belts. There was even a stuffed Santa
waving from the open tank turret. This really set me off.

On Christmas Eve I took my bad attitude and shuffled off to the post chapel. It was a candle light service with the singing of traditional carols and the reading of familiar passages from Luke.
I sat quietly through it all.

I exited the chapel into a perfectly clear warm tropical night with a gentle breeze. A small voice in my head said something that changed everything for me. It made me realize Christmas isn't the Currier and Ives pictures or any family traditions I remembered. These are not the reason for the season.

When I looked outside the chapel and saw all the stars I heard in my head, "Remember the first Christmas was in a desert."

I don't recall what the chaplain said that night but the message was loud and clear:
"Behold, there is great joy, for in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Glory to God and peace on earth."

Charles Miller
Burlington, Vt.