Early in December of 2025, our youngest son and his wife welcomed their newborn son into their arms.

Her pregnancy had been difficult. “How difficult?,” you ask. While carrying the baby, she passed kidney stones on multiple occasions. That’s how difficult.

Also, her delivery had been long and arduous. “How so?,” you inquire. Let’s not get into it.

Thankfully, her watchful parents stayed at their daughter’s home for several days – before, during, and after the birth. They were extraordinarily supportive and helpful.

After her parents returned to their own home in mid-December, the other in-laws sprang into action. My wife and I drove to our son’s coastal community. Throughout our stay there, we encouraged the new mother and new father and new baby to make it through the night with as much sleep as possible, and to strive to establish even the vaguest semblance of a night-time routine.

This newborn was a very good baby. (Please, do not accuse the writer of grandfatherly bias….) He was seldom fussy. During most days, he slept for hours on end. He enjoyed being held by all the adults in the room. The four of us took our turns — though the little one’s mother and father logged, by far, the most holding hours.

Gently rocking the baby boy in my arms, I had time to observe and consider the little one. His eyes struggled to open every once in a while. Every once in a long while, they stayed open and looked around for a few minutes. His plentiful, short, dark hair looked like it had been combed. When quiet, he was a picture of innocence (though the chances are that Adam’s problem had reached him…), vulnerability, defenselessness, and powerlessness.

Holding our youngest grandson, I was struck with this very unoriginal thought: Through a baby boy, God visited His first-chosen people and, through them, the whole world. Looking at the top of the little one’s head, I intellectually recalled this Christian truth. It also came home to my heart.

This tiny room in the basement of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the West Bank, is thought by Christians to be the manger room in which Christ was lain as an infant in what was once a stable. ID 7596497 @ David ID 7596497 © David Snyder | Dreamstime.com

If “[f]or us and for our salvation, he [the Son of God] came down from heaven…” (Nicene Creed) into this world as a baby, how should all babies be treated? How should those of us who are older, larger, smarter (hopefully!), and stronger, respond to babies? With the Christ Child in mind, the responses are self-evident. With care. With gentleness. With protection. With love.

Continue your celebration of Christmas until its twelfth day. With love, hold a baby. Hold Christmas. Throughout the year.