How do you wrap a dose of humility?

I hope everyone's enjoying their Christmas season and - hopefully - some time off to spend with family and friends.

I'm enjoying the time with my family, and I wanted to write about my Christmas Eve Mass experience and the unexpected present I received.

Because of my family's travel plans on Christmas, the 4 p.m. Christmas Eve Mass was the best service to attend. I knew - I knew - this one is always packed, but we had little choice.

Our parish's regular weekend services are well attended, so I knew this one was going to be a killer. That in mind, we arrived at 3:30 p.m., figuring we could probably squeeze into a back pew with a little room.

No dice. We walked in and it was already Standing Room Only, and there were no ushers on hand to encourage those already seated to squeeze over and make room for others.

I checked the choir loft - also packed, which meant we were relegated to the Toddler Room in the basement and its 19" TV, which simulcasts each Mass.

We walked into the room, flipped on the lights and turned on the TV. Up popped a live feed from upstairs. There was the chatter of the hundreds of people who got to celebrate Mass in person. There was the beautiful altar. The manger.

My heart sank. I could not believe I would be watching this Mass on TV. I went to this church every week. Every Holy Day! Why was I relegated to the basement of all places? I actually wanted to listen and pay attention to the Mass, not just daydream through it like all those Christmas and Easter Catholics hogging my rightful pew space one floor up. I think steam was coming out of my ears.

Now, I didn't actually utter anything in the above paragraph, but I certainly thought it. And I'm not proud of that, but I'm sure you could understand my disappointment. I sat there - not hiding my disappointment well - when it hit me: No room at the Inn.

No room in the pews, no room at the Inn. I'm sure I know of one couple who kinda-sorta went through the same thing. Did they pout? Did they get upset? No. They took what God gave them and found the most humble of places to meet their child, who also happened to be the King of Kings.

I felt pretty dumb to be fuming over not getting a spot upstairs. Would I have liked to be there? Sure. Should the fact I wasn't ruin my celebration of the Mass? No.

I gradually released the pressure in my head, and as other weary travelers found the Toddler Room, my husband and I distributed chairs and made sure everyone had a seat. I put a "We're all in this together!" smile on my face and tried to make the best of a imperfect situation.

I wish I could have handled my reaction to this obstacle perfect from the start. Realized that that was where God wanted me to celebrate Mass and to calmly accept His decision. But, I didn't. However, I did get the point rather quickly (for me, at least!) and got a nice dose of humility to boot. Not a bad Christmas present, after all.