My favourite Christmas greeting: L'Chaim

Last night our house church lit the last of the advent candles. The first candle represents Hope. The second, Peace. The third, Love. The fourth, Joy. Last night we lit the central candle, the big gold one; the one that represented Jesus.
We had a few visitors so I didn’t get a chair. I sat on the floor and looked at the assembled group: To my right is a Jewish believer whose family survived the Holocaust and she fled Europe during the last years of the war. She and her husband brought a visitor who is a medical doctor originally from India who worked in Muslim countries in the Middle East. Despite the potential consequences, she organized carol sings and prayer meetings during Christmas!
My daughter and her daughter sat on the floor in front of the tree. Our friends shared stories from their memories, reports from missionaries who experience Christmas differently "over there." And we sang carols – the sublime and the ridiculous.
But we shared communion. The incarnation is the Eternal becoming flesh. It was that flesh that was broken. So, with the candles of hope, peace, love, joy and Jesus burning, we shared the bread and "Kosher" grape juice (supplied by the Jewish woman). We held the cups of wine and I felt the urge to say "L'Chaim" – "to life".
One of our group asked if this was appropriate during communion. We discussed that for a minute. We decided it was OK; Jesus came to give us life, so let’s celebrate the life he gave, even amidst the (in fact, via) the death he suffered.
L'Chaim !!