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It’s nearly Christmas day, and I think everything’s in order. The gifts are wrapped, the cutout cookies are baked and frosted, the Angel is atop the tree, there’s a dusting of snow outside and Kelly and I are soon to head out for the 11pm candle-lit Christmas-eve service.

She’s upstairs sleeping, and I’ve just finished making a Santa-style strafing run on her apartment. The stealth mission is complete, the gifts have been arranged, and I’m about to clean up the mess of wrapping paper scraps, bits of tape and cookie crumbs from the kitchen table. But not without a celebratory Christmas-eve brandy. Yes, the good stuff. From the back of the cabinet.

So tonight, I’ll share my drink with you. I’ll raise my glass to toasty apartments and frosty windows, and to waking up to a white Christmas. I’ll toast to Christmas memories wrapped in the warm glow of firelight and the comforting embraces of family members and friends. To hearing the Christmas story, retold for two thousand years, and to the wonder in the way it never, ever gets old.

But most of all, as I prepare to raise my glass tomorrow to celebrate the birth of our Savior, I’ll raise my glass tonight to Freedom. To the Freedom we have to enjoy tomorrow’s celebrations, to the Freedom we have to believe what we choose, and to the Freedom we have to reflect our Savior’s love for each other – tonight, tomorrow, and always.

So, with a classic Dave-style parting grin, I say… Cheers. And I wish you a very, very merry Christmas.