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By JOYANNA LOVE. Managing Editor

The holiday season is officially here, and the local Christmas decorations are up.

The parades and tree lightings have been held, and now we wait for Christmas day.

Excitement is mounting for the children, but some adults might be feeling a little caught up in the hustle and bustle of trying to make everything just right.

When I was a child, I had a cartoon about how the Christmas carol “Silent Night” was written, and it became one of my favorite songs.

I am sure the line “sleep in heavenly peace” sounds wonderful to many of us right now. Sometimes the end of the year can seem extra stressful trying to finish things with holiday celebrations sometimes feeling just like one more thing to plan.

It probably felt the same way for Mary, and Joseph on that first Christmas. They were required to go to Bethlehem for a census. They did not have a choice on the timing. I am sure they would have rather it been another time, since Mary’s pregnancy was far along.

But Jesus being born in Bethlehem had been promised by a prophet long before.

A stable would not be anyone’s first choice for a pregnancy, but maybe as the writer of “Silent Night” proposes, maybe after Jesus was born there was a moment of silence, a few moments of peace to dwell on the wonder of the moment.

The wonder that, just as a prophet named Isaiah had promised hundreds of years before, God had come to earth through the virgin birth of Jesus.

I hope this Christmas has a few silent moments for you. A few moments where you can just feel at peace and enjoy friends and family.

I hope that this season you know that the Prince of Peace, Jesus, can truly be with you.