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Tonight finds me in front of the Christmas tree, with a couple of children and their spouses. We planned our Christmas Eve meal together. Some traditions hold you, put a stamp of remembrance on your heart, tie family and friends together. All of my children, when asked what their favorite tradition is for us Clarksons say, “Shepherd’s meal on Christmas Eve.” We have celebrated it together for 40 years.
When Clay and I were early married, I told him that I thought instead of making Christmas Eve one more, over the top, heavy work on “mama” meal, we should come up with something simple, easy, just like the first Christmas. I thought that instead of focusing all of our time, energy, and excitement on “presents” and stockings, on Christmas Eve, we could really ponder the heart of Christ.
His first coming to the shepherd’s with a heavenly chorus, finding a humble mama nursing, tenderly cuddling her baby was the story we needed to celebrate and remember, that he came to high, lowly, educated, pious and ungodly alike. We both agreed that the glory of Christ appearing to common men and women, shepherding their flocks was something we wanted to remember together — the glory of angels singing amidst the ordinary work of shepherds watching over their flocks. And so, Shepherd’s meal became a sacred, beloved tradition for us.
All lights are extinguished, candles lit everywhere, simple soup, a fruit plate with nuts, cheese, homemade, hand-formed herb bread. That was it. This feast became our favorite meal.
The first shepherd's meal found 5 of us in Vienna as missionaries — Clay and I, toddler Sarah and newborn Joel, and a young friend living with us. We squished together in a tiny creaky, old Austrian cottage. The foundation had settled, leaving the basement steps slanted and uneven, with a bit of effect on the rest of the house. Most of the rooms were about as big as a large walk-in closet. Rain would pour down our walls—inside! Pigeons often found their way into the attic and then got stuck there. The energy of young love, youthful ideals, toddler glee, discoveries every day with a newborn son sang happiness and vibrancy into our lives.
A very blessed Christmas, friends.