I slept until 7:10 this morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept in that late. I’m “blaming” Tori … who doesn’t look the least bit guilty or remorseful. Anyway, today is the “day after….” “Day after” days can feel like a bit of a letdown. Perhaps you still have family visiting or a late Christmas gathering yet to occur, but for most of us, it’s time to get back to work or our routine, whatever that may be.
We spend weeks getting ready for Christmas. We plan, decorate, cook, travel, wrap, and anticipate. And then, suddenly, it’s over. The day after Christmas arrives quietly, often in pajamas, surrounded by a vague sense of “Now what?”
I wonder what the day after Christmas looked like for Mary and Joseph. The angels had sung, the shepherds had shown up unannounced, and the night had changed the world forever. But the next morning? The animals needed feeding. The stable needed straightening. The baby cried, needed to be fed, and wanted to be held. Joseph probably wondered how he would explain all of this when they got back home. Mary was likely simply tired.
And the shepherds? After their night shift with angels and glory, it was time for them to get back to the fields and their sheep. Same sheep. Same hills. Same routine. Except that nothing was quite the same anymore.
Luke tells us that “Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). That feels especially fitting for the day after. The miracle birth didn’t disappear, but it was time for a return to ordinary life. And ordinary life is where God meets us the most often.
The day after Christmas reminds us that faith isn’t only about holy nights and joyful songs. It’s also about holy mornings, when the dishes still need washing, the house needs cleaning, and appointments fill our calendars. But now, because Christ has come, we live differently, even in the quiet, ordinary moments.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for meeting me not only in the wonder of Christmas, but in the calm of the day after. Help me, like Mary, to treasure and ponder what you have done, and like the shepherds, to return to my daily life changed by your presence. May I carry the light of Christ into every ordinary moment. Amen.
