Advent Day 21 - When Christmas Takes A Snow Day

When Christmas Takes a Snow Day - by Carrie Schmidt

Happy Saturday before Christmas, dear Seekerville! 
I hope you're enjoying our Coming Home For Christmas advent posts this month. I've loved the memories, the recipes, the photos, the traditions, and just seeing a bit more into the hearts of such cherished friends.
Grab a mug of hot chocolate or a Caramel Apple Spice from Starbucks (the only thing I get there since I don't like coffee or tea... i know, i know) and settle in for a harrowing tale of Christmas past. 
My brother & I, probably Christmas 1984
(no idea what i'm doing lol)When I was growing up, we lived in Northern Illinois (almost in Wisconsin) and my paternal grandparents lived in East Tennessee (in a secret city... but that's for another post). Christmas 1983 had us packing up the car one evening after my dad got home from work & hitting the interstate for a much-anticipated holiday at Mamaw & Papaw's house! What we didn't anticipate was being caught in a history-making weather event instead. The amateur weather buffs & people with great memories may remember exactly what I'm talking about in Christmas 1983, but for the rest of us....
We intended to drive to a hotel in Indiana for the night and tackle the rest of the 14 hour trip the next day. However, when my dad opened the hotel room door the next morning, instead of gazing out on the parking lot where we'd innocently left our car the night before, he was met with a wall of snow. Car? What car? No idea where it is. No idea where the parking lot is. Everything was buried in snow upon snow upon snow. Interstates were closed north and south. No snow plows were coming through. There would be no rescue.
What was only meant to be an overnight hotel stay became several days long. Wind chill was 100 below zero. Yes, you read that right. In fact, that Christmas has the auspicious title of coldest Christmas in North America - a title it still holds to this day. Of course we ran out of food fairly quickly. My dad would battle the treacherous elements to walk across the road and grab burgers from the truck stop, wrap them in motel room towels and my book bag (because of course I had one, even at age six lol), zip them up in his coat, and cross the road again ... only for them to already be stone cold. 
My 18-month-old brother was on meds for an ear infection and spiked a fever of 103 at some point during our stay. I read all my books. So what else is there to do? Well you act out the Christmas story from Luke 2, of course. Over and over and over again. I was in my element (always a bit of the dramatic in me, i'm sure this is shocking to all of you LOL) but needless to say my baby brother did NOT want to be swaddled over and over and over again. And my mom was trying to keep his fever down so swaddling him wasn't really the best choice. But he was the only baby Jesus we had, so I swaddled. My poor parents. 
As I think back now on this particular Christmas, with the eyes and the cognition of an adult, I realize how scary it must have been for my mom and dad. In their early 30s with two small children, no certain supply of food, no way for an ambulance to reach us if my brother had gotten sicker, separated from deathly frigid temperatures only by a thin-walled motel room and its please-keep-working heater unit. No way to really celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense that children consider Christmas - all our presents were in Tennessee. Running out of money (a several day hotel stay was not in the budget). I know they trusted God, that is one of the greatest legacies they've given me. But in their humanity, how could they not have been even just a little bit afraid?
One of my favorite Nativity setsYet, in the next thought, my heart unpacks a whispered reminder of that "first Christmas" that I reenacted so many times that stranded week. Mary and Joseph were even younger than my parents, most likely. Stranded away from home. IN LABOR IN A STABLE. So many unknowns. Strange visitors. A baby who may not have wanted to be swaddled any more than my brother did. I don't know what they had planned for when they got to Bethlehem, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't any of that. It's clear Mary & Joseph trusted God too, but how could they also not have been even just a little bit afraid?
Into all of the uncertainty that accompanied that pivotal night in history, into all of the uncertainty that accompanied that long ago Christmas for my own family, into all of the uncertainty that may accompany you this Christmas, the angel's message to the shepherds still resonates... 
“Don’t be afraid!” he said.
“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.
The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!
And you will recognize him by this sign:
You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
God. Come to earth. Meeting us where we are. It's easy to gloss over it in the familiarity of the story. And sometimes it takes an unexpected change of plans to remind us of its profound impact. Emmanuel. God with us. God with you. 
One of my favorite Christmas songs from recent years is "Christmas Changes Everything" by Josh Wilson. These lyrics (below) in particular hit my soul every time. 
 Hallelujah, love has found usHope in a manger our Savior is setting us free
This is rescue, Christ has come to make us new
Oh, Christmas changes everything
The snow changed all of our plans that Christmas of 1983. We ran out of money & days off work for my dad and had to go back home as soon as the roads were clear (and we could find our car). But all of that was so minor. Many people lost their lives from the extreme cold and snow that Christmas, but we had shelter, safety, warmth and each other.

What really mattered had already been eternally altered when the birth of a Baby defeated death forever.

Do you need rescue this Christmas? In your heart, in your family, in your health or your bank account? You may feel stranded even in a room full of people who love you. May I leave you with the tender reminder today of that Hope in a manger, of our Savior who is setting us free?

This is rescue. Christ has come to make us new.

And, my Seekerville friends, that changes everything! 

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Today, I'm giving away one of my favorite Christmas re-reads. AND it includes an adorable scene with kids reenacting the Christmas story that will leave you laughing and teary-eyed. For a chance to win An Endless Christmas by Cynthia Ruchti tell me about any memorable Christmas trips you've taken. (Or anything else you'd like to share - I just like chatting!)

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Carrie Schmidt is an avid reader, book reviewer, story addict, KissingBooks fan, book boyfriend collector, and cool aunt. She also loves Jesus and THE Story a whole lot. Co-founder of the Christian Fiction Readers' Retreat and JustRead Publicity Tours, Carrie lives in Kentucky with her husband Eric. 

She can be found lurking at various blogs and websites (because she can't stop talking about books) but her main home is the blog she started in 2015 - ReadingIsMySuperPower.org.
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