Merry Christmas!

As I write this, the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies lingers throughout our home. Christmas songs ring out from the iPod, and our kids are playing in the living room. We’re thinking about all of the Christmas traditions we observe each year, and are preparing for a normal Christmas Eve at the Stickley house.

Baking Jesus a birthday cake.

Dinner as a family.

Attending Christmas Eve worship at our church.

Reading the Christmas story from the Bible.

Watching the kiddos exchange gifts from each other.

Wondering what “Santa” will bring in the morning.

Quite simply put… we love Christmas and all of its traditions.

This year, though, there’s something more lingering in our hearts. This Christmas, we can’t help but have our thoughts extend to the millions of orphans throughout the world.

So many of these children wait, hoping that one day they’ll have a family of their own. They’ll go to bed tonight not worried about what Santa will bring, but simply longing to have a family that loves them and cares for them. Likewise, there are perhaps millions of families throughout the world, preparing for adoption, who celebrate this Christmas with empty spots in their hearts, their sole Christmas wish being that their adopted child could be with them right now.

With that in mind, enjoy this touching Christmas song from Third Day.