Dec. 21 is going to be a red-letter day.

I had already been planning on riding to Nashville with my parents to pick up my California brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece (Ila Katherine, who was born last summer and whom I have not yet seen in person). The plan for that process was that my parents and I would ride to Nashville together in their van. We would go to the airport, pick up the Costa Mesa bunch, and then drop my parents off at Schermerhorn Symphony Center, where they have tickets for Handel’s “Messiah.” Mike, Kelly, the kids and I would then head for Shelbyville, perhaps grabbing a bite to eat if they’re hungry, while Mom and Dad would ride back from Nashville later with Jon and Donna Brock, who also have “Messiah” tickets. (Jon is the choir director at our church.)

All of that is still on schedule, except that now we’ll be going to Nashville a little earlier in the day, to join a group from our church in viewing From Abraham To Jesus, a massive traveling exhibit which is now at the Nashville Convention Center. It includes everything from ancient scripture fragments to an ossuary containing the purported remains of the son of Simon of Cyrene.

I’d been wanting to see the exhibit anyway, and this will be a terrific opportunity (we’ll also get a group rate on tickets). I bit the bullet and burned off a vacation day so I could take part. Unfortunately, I can’t justify the trip by doing a story for the newspaper — one of my colleagues was already working on it.

It should be a full day, but a fun one.