Christmas Solstice

One perk of living in Michigan at the furthest, western edge of Eastern Standard Time—daylight.

Daylight. Lots of daylight.

So much daylight that by the time winter comes, I am ready for the darkness to get my family’s nighttime routine underway. While this is not scientific by any means, we dance between a four to five hour gap from sundown in June to sundown in December.

It seems impossible to get kids to bed anytime before sundown in the summer. I used to combat this with darkening shades, but I can’t trick my kiddos’ bodies like I used to. They get all energized, absorbing all the goodness of light throughout the day. Usually when June solstice hits, I am just about ready to be off duty with kids tucked into bed way before the sky turns dark around 10 p.m.

The new year has me dreaming of those solstice days. The one where we have the darkest day and every day after is more light. Unlike those summer days, I am ready for more light.

Maybe just like the shortest day of the year, your Christmas was more dark than light.

Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York reminds us when he throws a brick through the toy store window, “This is it. No turning back. Another Christmas in the trenches,” that Christmas can seem to repeatedly be a nightmare. That was the case for Kevin in the movie. The sequel continued the cycle of Kevin being alone and on a mission to bring down the bad guys.

I remember it as clear as day. A friend texted me upon learning I needed further cancer treatment, “Another Christmas in the trenches.” The year prior, my Christmas plans changed due to illness and an impending biopsy that would lead to a Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis.

In 2022, I went on to needing treatment, I would have never imagined needing, weekly over the course of the month of December—the regimen that wasn’t part of the original treatment plan. Back in that season I wrote this…

It’s been an effort to reframe what Christmas looks like this year. The staying home part is a bummer, but isn’t the worst either. The four rounds of chemotherapy and handful of doctor appointments this month is not very festive. But it's embracing the real reason for Christmas that have been both timely and challenging. 

Accepting the gift of the miracle this season is so different being in need of God’s supernatural power. Jesus' birth being divine and my medical adventure continuing to prove God’s sovereignty has been just what I’ve needed. 

I’m confident, I’m not the only one who feels like they are at battle or facing something tough this Christmas. I’m believing for you, that there is more to your Christmas than the unwanted part. I’m hoping you feel the blessing of the miracle that is Christmas.

I am going to go ahead and guess, we are all in need of God’s supernatural power. The Christmas season revealed parts of our lives that we didn’t see coming. And for some reason, these undesirable parts don’t signal the most magical time of year.

Let’s get all energized, absorbing all the goodness of His light throughout the day… every day. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5). Like Kevin, we too can take down the bad guy—and not let Satan have any authority over any part of our life. Lucky for us, we aren’t left stranded alone like Kevin was home by himself or roaming the streets of New York. Our Creator revealed Himself on earth to be with us, and when He died He sent us the Holy Spirit to continually be with us.

Not only is the science of daylight not my expertise, neither is Spanish. I know this. Más means “more.”

Here’s to a year full of more light—more Christ—Christmás. 

More hope.

More joy.

More freedom.

More peace.

Friend, there is more to your days than the unwanted parts.

Let’s find that everyday gold.