Always have.

When I was a kid, I looked forward to that new bicycle. But the year I wanted a bicycle was a hard one for Santa. That's what my folks told me.

Actually, it was a hard year on the farm for my dad, so the bike that Santa brought me had a few miles on it already.

But it was a beauty to me.

Still, it had a problem that Dad, Santa, and I knew nothing about. It had broken at some time, and had been rewelded right at the seat. On the first ride down the hill in front of my house it broke right in the middle. The seat and back wheel fell behind and I was left running down the hill pushing the front wheel with the handlebars.

I got some ten seconds of a good ride out of that bicycle.

And one of my sweetest Christmas memories.

Santa had it hard that year - but my dad was determined that I get a bicycle for Christmas.

It is the memory of that love that has lasted.

I knew even as a kid that Christmas had more to do with love than it did with presents.

And Jesus was real to me from a very early age.

Sure I loved Santa - but he always took a back seat to that babe in the manger.

Early on, I knew who was born under that star atop our tree.

As my understanding of Jesus has grown, so has my love of Christmas. I know that my life, too, began in that manger, under that star.

All that I have worth having comes from him.

All that I know worth knowing I learned from him.

All my hope and all my joy rest in him.

His birth is my salvation.

With his birth, my life began.

And yours, too.

The heart of my celebration these days is the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. For me, this service is charged with the glory of God-aglow with the Spirit of Christ.