'Tis the 23rd of December.  Only two more days until Christmas is here.  But honestly, I'm just as excited about Christmas Eve as I am about Christmas.

There's something special about the day you get to spend in expectation of something wonderful.  I almost love Christmas Eve more than Christmas, because I feel so excited and happy about knowing what the next morning will be.  It's really special to me.

My favorite part of Christmas Eve is not the expecting and excitement, though.  My absolute favorite part of this special day of the year, is the little church service my family goes to at our tiny church.  Our church has only about 50 people in it; so we are like a large family, who meets once a week.

On our Christmas Eve service, we sing some special hymns, have a short sermon-et, and do special music.  Usually I sing a song with my sisters, or my best friend.  This year, I'm singing a song with all three of my sisters, and my mom.  I always enjoy doing special songs, (and once had fun doing an original skit that my mom wrote.)  It just makes me feel so happy, to be able to have the fun of practicing together, and then performing together.

But the greatest moment of all, during this service, is when we sing our last song, "Silent Night."  We all light these little candles, and turn of the light, to sing the song.  I don't know if there are any words to explain how amazing that moment in time is, when I look around the room at all of the candles, and all of the people who have joined together for the night, both in body and in heart.  We all come together and sing, expressing our love for our God.  Then, as the last notes are dying out, we puff out our candles.

It's an amazing time.  I love it greatly.  The few minutes that we spend singing "Silent Night" are probably my most treasured minutes out of every year.  Sitting in our little church and singing that special song in this special way, almost brings tears to my eyes.

This year, I got a most wonderful Christmas present.  (Yes, I received it already.)  This one was from God.  This year, (last night, or early this morning, actually,) for the first time ever, I finished a first draft of a novel.  Since I lost a chunk of words a week ago, I might have to end up rewriting those, (which in that case, would mean I wasn't done with the first draft yet.)  But as I don't know yet whether the file can be fixed, I am just saying that I finished the first draft.

I wrote a novel.  It's incredible.  I've been wanting to do this for years; and God finally picked this year to help me do it.  I love that He chose Christmas, of all times, to give me this special gift.

However, because I'm writing about Christmas Eve, I'll tie this in.  You see, two nights ago, I ended my writing time, knowing that I only had two more small scenes to write.  I was ecstatic.  I was so excited, and thrilled.

And, in a way, it felt like Christmas Eve.  I was so excited about what I knew the next day would bring, that I was acting crazy.

What are you looking forward to this Christmas?  What part of Christmas or Christmas Eve do you most look forward to, or love the most?

*~*Laura*~*