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Ashley Burnham awoke on December 24th with her heart aflutter in anticipation of her family’s Christmas Eve celebration planned for that night. She had no premonition that the world as she knew it in the twenty-first century would be in chaos before any Christmas celebrations began.
It was a tradition in her family’s church to have Christmas Eve service during the day of Christmas Eve, because most of the congregation’s families celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve in their homes. That morning her family gathered for breakfast and then dressed in their church clothes, piled into the family car, and drove from the farm into town. Ashley and Jeremiah, her eight-year-old little brother, started singing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a favorite song and then Mom and Dad joined them. The family sang more Christmas songs all during the 15-mile drive into town arriving and parking as they sang the last note of "Silent Night." The eleven o’clock service was packed and the church sanctuary festooned with fir boughs and red ribbon.
The service ended precisely at noon and that’s when the unexpected silently happened.
Snow was falling lightly as everyone was leaving church. Ashley had hope for a white Christmas and now it would be. She looked at her phone as they walked to the car to check the time and saw it read 12:00 noon. It didn’t move forward another second. She wondered if something was wrong with her phone and then she saw that the large town clock was also frozen at noon. Some people moving out of church were also looking perplexedly at their watches or phones and shaking their heads.
Ashley’s mother and father were not. They were talking about the plans for the day and going over the times when various family and friends would arrive to celebrate and share holiday cheer on this Christmas Eve.
The Burnham family all got into the car. Mr. Burnham dialed the radio to their favorite 24-hour Christmas music station for the drive home and noticed the car’s clock was stuck at 12:00 noon. He announced his noticing to everyone.
Ashley responded, “Dad, I saw the town clock was frozen at 12:00 and so is my phone.
Her mom and dad immediately checked their phones and discovered the same thing…time stopped at twelve noon. Possible rational explanations fell from her parents’ lips like dead leaves falling from trees in autumn.
Then Jeremiah, who loved playing the “what if” game, raised a relevant question, “Hey, everybody, what if the clocks everywhere have stopped?” Jeremiah had a vivid and sometimes terrifying imagination.
But as the next few hours revealed, Jeremiah was correct. All human made time keeping devices all over the world had stopped. Electricity was intact. The television and internet showed a stream of images as the inevitable chaos at airports, train stations, subways, bus stops and other places happened around the world, as people confronted life without clocks.
In the Burnham household, preparations for Christmas Eve holiday cheer proceeded under the guidance of Mr. and Mrs. Burnham who firmly placed their trust in the power of Christmas and the gift of God’s Love.
Mr. Burnham gathered everyone in the living room where a tall Christmas tree was waiting yet to be decorated.
“It has been a tradition in this family to always decorate our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. We shall keep that tradition today, whether the clocks are working or not. Everyone, please hold hands. We shall start with a prayer for all those caught up in the chaos we have been witnessing on TV.
Mr. Burnham bowed his head and prayed, “Oh Lord of All, we pray that a way through this time, marked only by day and night, the turning of the seasons, births and deaths, and the light of the stars, will be revealed. We shall adhere to Love and the Spirit of Christmas as our guides.” Mr. Burnham paused, and then quietly continued, “Let us all go within ourselves and pray using the language of our hearts.” After a time of silence, he softly said, “Amen.” Then, each member of the family took turns saying, “Amen.” They smiled at each other and unclasped their hands.
The Burnhams went to work. Jeremiah and Mr. Burnham worked on getting the lights untangled and up onto the tree. Mrs. Burnham and Ashley unpacked the family’s collection of treasured decorations which were a mix of home-made and thrift store finds, as well as gifts from family and friends over the years. As they worked, Ashley and Jeremiah started singing Christmas songs and Mr. and Mrs. Burnham joined in. After a while, the tree was festooned with lights and love, as well as joyful memories of Christmases past. Outside the afternoon light was fading and dusk was settling in. Inside it didn’t matter that human made time devices had stopped working. Christmas was alive and sparkling in the Burnham household.
Suddenly, they heard laughter and the scuffle of feet on the porch followed by a knock on the door. Jeremiah and Ashley practically flew to the door and flung it open wide to be greeted by smiles of joy from those on their doorstep.
“Happy Christmas to all,” rang out from multiple voices of dear friends and relatives as all tumbled in bearing gifts and festive food. Oh, the joy! Hugs and kisses and shedding of coats and scarves and worries as the Spirit of Christmas instantly pervaded that gathering in the Burnham household. Everyone was talking and laughing all at once as they placed their gifts amongst all the others under the tree. There was something there for everyone, and now they were all together.
Ashley was beaming as she burst into song with “We wish you a merry Christmas…”
Everyone joined in and when the last noted died away, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham said, “Thank you all for coming. We are so glad you came to share Christmas joy with us.
Auntie Evaline spoke for all the guests, “We wouldn’t miss this day. We communicated with each other and worked out transport for all. Phones still work even if they don’t tell time. After all, we know what time it is. It’s Christmas time! It’s time to be joyful and grateful, whether clocks are working or not!”
With that, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham opened the doors to the dining room and made a sweeping gesture for everyone to follow them to the table. Everyone gasped at the beautiful holiday table awaiting them. The Burnhams had earlier set the table for their twelve guests and themselves. The table was graced with a lovely centerpiece and red candles. Now, all the gifts of food which had been lovingly prepared were laid out upon the table and sideboard ready to be passed to everyone. Mr. Burnham disappeared into the kitchen and emerged carrying the steaming turkey on a serving platter ready to be carved. He set it down in front of his seat at the head of the table. He reached out his hands to Ashley and Jeremiah seated on either side of him and then everyone at the table joined hands.
Mr. Burnham smiled, bowed his head in prayer saying, “Father, Mother, Divine Ones, we thank you. Thank you all for bringing us together for this Christmas Eve celebration. Amen.” He looked lovingly around the table and continued, “As is our tradition, we will go around the table, and we will speak from our hearts before we partake of God's bounty with this meal. May you all feel the Spirit of Christmas this day.”
Each in turn voiced their feelings until finally it was Ashley’s turn. She closed the sharing of feelings tradition with the words that had been passed down for generations in the Burnham family, “May Love that is the Spirit of Christmas be your guide in life always in all ways. Come what may, come what might, may Love hold us all in its Light.”
There was sweet silence as everyone soaked in what had just occurred in the sharing around the holiday table.
Jeremiah who truly loved Christmas, called out with glee, “May God bless us all here and out there everywhere. Happy Christmas!”
“Yes, yes,” everyone cried out with joy, “Happy Christmas, Happy Christmas!”
There was a slight pause and then Jeremiah blurted out with cheerful gusto, “Amen. Let’s eat!”
Laughter and chatter about the clocks stopping ensued as the turkey was carved and dishes of delicious food were passed around the table until everyone’s plate was filled, as were their hearts on the day the clocks stopped, but Christmas did not.
What would ultimately happen because the clocks stopped? There were many questions to be answered. Meanwhile, for the time being, Christmas and the power of God’s love had prevailed for the Burnham family and others in their farming community as well.
What would happen next? Only time itself would tell.
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