Gather together this Christmas

Hopefully by the time you read this you’ve had some eggnog or at least Christmas cookies, are preparing for a Christmas Eve service or to read “The Night Before Christmas” to the family.

This should be a joyous season. For Christians, it’s the time to give thanks for the everlasting life Jesus Christ gifted to us and to remember the Christmas story as told in the Bible, the one played out in pageants and Nativity sets.

For everyone, hopefully it’s a chance to be with family and friends, to reminisce as we near the end of another year.

For a lot of us, it’s also a chance for that exciting, sometimes terrifying office Christmas party.

I hit my two-party quota with the Tribune Christmas party Friday, always a fun experience. The rule I’ve made with my wife is that we each drink at the other’s party, a way to avoid any possibility of embarrassment the next Monday.

The parties are yet another way we come together in this season of togetherness.

My family will even be playing dueling church services, as we ensure to make it to one of our church’s services on or around Christmas, and then gather with parents in Wapiti for yet another service.

Christmas services are great, especially if you can be one of those more-or-less regulars who looks in shock and awe at the people you’ve never seen before sitting in your pew. Yes, those are our seats, but it’s just nice to have a full crowd, observing families from out of state and people who may not be regulars but won’t give up the holiday tradition.

Whatever the reason, the gathering is an important part of the season.

We’ve been gathering as a community all over, from wrestling tournaments to concerts and ChristmasFest.

However and with whomever you gather, soak it in and remember, eggnog, cookies and (a family tradition) stolen isn't that bad for you — and if it is, we’re not too far from New Year’s resolutions.