This Christmas...

This year is different.  I'm not vacuuming in anticipation of twenty plus people coming to our home.  I'm not spreading the table cloths over the dining room table, the one time a year it gets used.  I'm not frantically wrapping gifts before everyone gets to my house.  And I'm not trying to get it all done in time to change just before heading to Church an hour early so we can get seats together.  Instead, I'm relaxing at home with my family.  I'll still make it to Church, but not an hour early because it's just me and my grandmother this year.  Afterwards I'll come home, we'll have a nice dinner, and we'll end up just spending time together as a family.  It's actually going to be pretty nice.

Rather than focusing on the entertaining part of it all, we're focusing on spending time as a family this year.  Christmas this year isn't about the presents, the decorations, the holiday music, any of that.  It's instead about spending time with the people we love and enjoying the time that we have together.  Who knows what next Christmas will bring.  So for now, I'm going to enjoy this year.  There's nothing wrong with how we used to celebrate, but this year I think it means a little bit more.

Sometimes I think we all get so caught up in the holiday season that we forget what it's really all about.  I'm the biggest offender of this.  So it doesn't surprise me that life found a way to smack me in the face to get me to wake up.  I spent more time this year thinking of others.  When people asked about my Christmas list, I told them what I was doing for my family and friends, rather than what I wanted people to give me.  It's just a difference I've noticed when I compare this year to last.

So as I sit here, looking at our amazing tree (which my sister picked out and decorated), I am thankful for the time that I do have with my family.  I'm thankful for being here with the people I love.  I miss the ones who aren't here, and I always will.  But I'm going to enjoy the holiday for what it is, a gift.  Because who knows what next year will bring.  So I'm going to enjoy today and tomorrow and worry about that another day.

So I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season this year.  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Solstice, and Joyous Kwanzaa.  And Happy New Year too!