Ok, so I know it’s only the end of August, but I am starting to get excited about Christmas. I love Christmas!! In the past week or so, I have been uber tempted to get out the Christmas music. I love, love, love Christmas music! As soon as the last trick-or-treater has left, Third Day Christmas Offerings begins its two month stay in my car’s CD player. It drives Stephen crazy. Whether it’s the early onslaught of the season or the fact that he gets to hear Mac Powell sing the same ten songs 500 times each, I don’t know. Either way, Stephen is usually far less enthusiastic about it than the kids and I.
I hope that Oliver will enjoy our little tradition as much as Nadie does. On that first November day, there is always a big introduction and I tell her to listen carefully. She listens for a minute and then she’ll say, “Is that Mac Powers, Mama? Is it almost time for Christmas?” Yes it is! And then we sing and sing. SO MUCH FUN! When Nadie was two, she could sing “O, Holy Night” all the way through. We have video footage of her singing it one night while she was in the bathtub. It is so sweet, and I like to go back and watch it from time to time.
Nadie had imaginary friends when she was little. Emily and Ashley. They were around most of the time and we always knew what Emily and Ashley were doing. But, that very same Christmas when Nadie was two, a new friend came into the mix. It started around New Years. She began talking about Sader (pronounced with a long A.) She would ask me all the time, “Mama, where’s Sader? When is Sader going to come?” I had NO clue what she talking about. I would constantly hear her talking to Sader on her princess flip phone. Then she would come tell me, “Well, that was Sader. He’s coming soon.” I would ask her questions about him, trying to figure out who this Sader was. She always answered the same, “You know, Mama. Sader!” No, I didn’t know and it was making me nuts.
I asked my mom if she knew anything about it. Maybe Nadie had seen something at her house. She didn’t know. Neither did Stephen nor my sister. We were all stumped. All we knew was that Sader was coming and Nadie was very excited about it. And that, apparently, she thought we were a little dim witted for not knowing just who Sader was. Even Emily and Ashley knew Sader, so what was our problem?
After about four or five weeks, I was fully expecting Sader (whoever he was) to walk through the door one day. She was that insistent about it! So I asked her, yet again, “Who is Sader?” She looked at me, rolled her eyes and said, “You KNOW, Mama! Like in the song. ‘It is the night of our dear Sader’s birth’.” No wonder she thought I was slow! We had only sung that song a 100 times. But leave it to a child to understand the excitement of the coming Savior!
Nadie doesn’t remember any of that now, but I will never forget. It was one of those moments of realization for me. Not only the joy for the birth of our King, but the exciting anticipation that He is coming back. Our Sader/Savior will return! And that just makes the Christmas itch even worse for me. Maybe I will sneak in some Christmas music today. More importantly, I should probably take my cue from a two year old that not only eagerly awaited her Sader, but stayed in communication with him until that time came.
