Pie is the reason for the season

A week ago I was enjoying a rare child-free lunch at a restaurant chain.  As I was breathing in the quiet and slowly savoring each bite, I looked at the dessert menu.  I snapped this photo because I couldn't stop laughing.  "Pie is the reason for the season"?  Really?  

Interesting how advertisers and even restaurants try to capture your heart during the holiday season, claiming that their product is the reason for the season.  I do like a slice of pie now and then, but can we really claim that pie is responsible for an entire season of love, joy and peace?  Gift-giving and receiving.  Time with family and friends, enjoying each other's company?

And then, in the same day, I saw the other extreme.  On this mattress store, they had painted the words "Happy Birthday, Jesus."  Now, that's a message I can get behind.    

The reason for the season is someone who came in quietly, born as a babe in a lowly manger.  

As Placide Cappeau so beautifully wrote in 1847:

Led by the light of faith

serenely beaming

With glowing hearts by his

cradle we stand.

So led by the light of a star

sweetly gleaming,

Here came the wise men 

from Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus

in lowly manger

In all our trials born to 

be our friend.

Amen.