Tomorrow I will have to get the paper bags that I forgot, and maybe one or two other things.  It will probably be crowded aisles and uncrowded shelves.  The people will be tired.  Not jolly, but mostly kind.

You last minute shoppers, I salute you.  You care enough to put together a Christmas even when its frantic.  You care enough to vow you’ll get going sooner next year, and when you invariably don’t, to decide to do the best you can with the short time you have left.  You love Christmas too much.  The great hopes you have are too merry for this earth, so you put your prep off until you have no choice, and you head out to follow the star and see if it will lead you to something wonderful even in the chaos and mess of a stable.

The angel choirs practiced for millennia.  The shepherds came as they were.