“He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.” (Luke 2:5 NLT)

They knew nothing about a hard-candy Christmas, but they had one anyway. And me? Well, I’ve had a few slim ones but never a hard-candy one.

Every year, a few weeks before Christmas, I think about hard-candy Christmases when I see food coloring, Karo syrup, sugar, and pans on our kitchen counter.

Several years ago, my wife began making hard candy. A friend gave her a recipe, and they worked together for a few years. Well, it soon became a tradition. My wife makes many flavors, but spearmint and peppermint are the two that do the best job of snaking their way through every crevice and corner of our house. I know what my wife’s been up to the minute I walk through the doorway.

After pouring the candy on a sheet and letting it cool, she takes a hammer (or meat tenderizer) and breaks it into smaller, edible pieces. Then, she separates the flavors into gallon bags. From here, she places the various mixtures into small Tupperware containers to deliver to family, friends, and strangers. We’ve never met a person yet who turned down her hard candy.

Some we give the hard candy to are in the middle of hard-candy Christmases, while others remember going through them perhaps as a child. Hard-candy Christmases refer to those Christmases when all a person could afford to give was hard candy—penny candy, as people once called it. During Christmases such as when the Great Depression ravaged the US.

To complete my picture of a hard-candy Christmas, I listen to Dolly Parton’s song by the same name.

That first Christmas was joyful for Mary and Joseph, but it, too, was difficult. Hard-candy, we might say. The trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem was arduous—and longer still because Mary was pregnant and ready to deliver. The walking. The riding on a donkey. The crowds. The anxiety of trying to find a place to stay. A smelly manger. The problem of who would deliver the child. And amid it all, registering for the census and taxes. I imagine Mary and Joseph could have identified with the song.

Christmas should be joyful as we celebrate the birth of the world’s Savior, but it isn’t for many—at least not consistently. Things interfere with the joy. Busyness. Conflicting schedules. The four D’s: divorce, death, disease, and depression. Family separation due to military life, mission work, or job requirements.

The angel, and then angels, delivered news of great joy to the shepherds abiding in the fields. A Savior had been born. The shepherds left their flocks to find him, and after they did, they told others. Later, God placed a special star in the sky, leading Magi to the Christ-child. They worshipped him and gave him gifts worthy of a king. Then, they, too, shared the news.

No matter how hard-candy our Christmas, we can soften our blows by remembering why we celebrate Christmas. Nothing we experience or have experienced can dampen the remarkable nature of what God has done on our behalf. And God promises peace beyond our comprehension during whatever causes our hard-candy Christmas. What are some ways God has delivered you through hard-candy Christmases?

Martin Wiles