So opens the beloved Christmas poem by Clement Park Moore. These are arguably some of the best-known verses ever written by an American. Moore’s poem is largely responsible for our modern American conception of Santa Claus.

Maybe for you, this is a reflection of what life has felt like this season. If so, please see me– I need to know how. But for me, it sounds like a Type-A person’s fantasy land. “Not a creature was stirring,” “the stockings hung by the chimney with care,” and all the children “nestled snug in their beds.” Even the parents are calm, collected, and cozy. I mean, come on! 

Where’s the mad dashing about to finish Christmas shopping or the cold sweats as you wait for your Amazon package to be delivered (they said it would be here by now!)? Where’s the tape all over the table and the tinsel strewn all over the floor? Or the children who don’t want to go to bed because, instead of dreaming about sugar plums (whatever those are), they already ate too many of them—or cookies, or whatever! 

If this weren’t a nearly 200-year-old holiday fixture, I’d accuse Moore of using too many filters. It’s like a social media account, only showing the good stuff. Sweep the chaos and crazy under the rug; company is coming! Seriously, it’s not very realistic, is it? At least not for me. Christmas snuck up on me. I had the best intentions for Christmas this year, especially since it’s our first Christmas in our first home. But the reality is, I am not ready for Christmas. Are you?

Hectic schedules, distracting details, fighting across the political aisle, a litany of people I know facing significant challenges to health or wholeness or happiness—it’s a rather contrasting background to set against the refrains of joy and gladness. It’s no wonder we might feel unprepared for Christmas this year. But you know what? The first Christmas ever came to a world that was simply not ready. 

Mary and Joseph were guests in a town not their own when baby Jesus made his debut. They had no delivery room or decorated nursery. No friends or family surrounding them. The shepherds, out in the field at work, weren’t even looking for Christmas. But Christmas still came. 

That’s the great news of Christmas—it is an act of God. It’s not about us being prepared or being good enough. It’s not about being sinless, perfect, or ready. It’s not about being anything other than who you are right now. Because the gift of Emmanuel is God with us. God coming to our world simply because God loves us. 

God says, “Ready or not, here I come!” God comes to us when we are feeling unprepared, out of our element, far from home, or fearful of what’s to come. God comes to us at work, in the busy-ness and the routine of our days. God comes to us when we are not ready for God and when we aren’t even expecting God to show up. Why? Simply because God loves us. 

So maybe instead of dashing about–we just simply bask in God’s presence and the good news of great joy–that a baby is born! His name is Jesus. And he is the Light of the World!