Well, not yet.

By all accounts, though, Christmas Eve will be delivering an early gift for political junkies, as the US Senate prepares to pass their version of a health care reform bill. This morning, The Hill reports that both Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid and Republic Leader Mitch McConnell are urging civility in the final days of floor debate. That may appear to be an impossible ask, but I suppose that civility in chaos is what the Senate prides itself on.

One recent complaint I’ve heard repeated in the last day or so — perhaps most notably in the Indiana GOP’s frantic fundraising blast email — is that “Democrats are scheduling votes at odd hours in the hopes that you’re not paying attention!”

Let’s get things straight: I have no doubt that Democrats would be scheduling these votes for a prime time slot if not for one thing: Republicans. Senators have been burning the midnight oil not out of strategy, but out of necessity as GOP procedural shenanigans have effectively slowed our most deliberative body down to a legislative crawl. The holiday-themed political theatrics on Thursday will make for great television, but I assure you that these guys and gals would much rather be at home with their families.

And yet, watch we will, and the importance of Thursday’s vote cannot be understated. Republicans have gone from saying the bill would do too much (SOCIALISM!) to saying it won’t do enough (Uh… SOCIALISM!), but at the end of the day, a deficit neutral program that expands health care coverage to 30-odd million Americans will be passed after sixty years of prolonged, painful debate. Preexisting conditions will be a thing of the past, and insurance companies will no longer be able to drop Americans just because they get sick. Seniors will be protected, and everyone can keep their doctors.

Is the bill perfect? No, but no piece of legislation ever is. What it is, though, is an important step forward as we address a health care crisis that will only worsen if the inaction of the past is allowed to be the strategy of the future.

So tune in on Thursday. It’s no Christmas miracle, but it surely will provide a spectacle as we all settle in for a long winter’s nap. And love it or hate it, the bill will mark one of the most critical legislative victories we’ve seen in a long, long while.