Each year Christmas brings its magic and ushers in a holiday season full of family, busyness, and cheer. Our expectations are high, and so are our hopes. Despite this, our experience of the holiday season falls a little short, and there's a part of our hearts that feels a mixture of sadness and nostalgia. Jesus invites us to recognize that our pensive moments are evidence for a heavenly longing, and that his presence is near to the lonely, sometimes hopeless, and broken places of our lives. ( notes)