First of all, to all the smart aleck's in my life, YES I am updating my long lost blog again, thanks to Amy reminding me to do so :) luv ya Aim!! You better read and comment now :)
I do not send out Christmas cards. Always think I will, but then another year passes and I realize just how lucky I am to even get one family picture with all my kids, which is usually Christmas Eve, and again, thanks to Amy, am reminded that at that point it is probably too late to send out cards. So a heads up to you all...you are getting Valentine's cards. Well, maybe not, but just know that the thought is there.
Christmas had a very different tone this year. I am sure that many of us can relate to that in some fashion. Oh there are the usual economic factors involved that keep someone like myself with my wallet tightly on my hip, double checking and calculating exactly was HAS to be bought and what we can do without. The tension in the air when walking through the mall could be cut with a knife. Everyone bargain shopping and cutting corners. But the one thing I noticed the most was that nobody was smiling! Nobody was in the Christmas spirit. Is it just me or is each year getting progressively worse with the theme? Trees go up with Halloween pumpkins strategically placed underneath so that store won't be judged for "getting ahead of themselves." Music played on every corner, but no one stopped to listen? Was the stress of mortgage payments and utililty bills just too much? It seemed like everyone wanted this Christmas to just be over. Even I am guilty of this.
I caught myself in negative thought while I casually wrapped the presents. I am the Mom who uses a different pen for Santa, different hand writing, different paper and so forth...And my kids don't even believe in that anymore! But this year, I just wanted it over. In fact I think I used the same wrapping paper for everything. So much for the Sally Foster investment.
As a parent I hate not providing everything for my children and meeting their expectations.
But then another thought came to me. Who set those expectations? Was that me? We were all way off base and the Christmas Spirit was not about who got what or who didn't get what. So cliche I know, but so true! But I was failing in setting this example and teaching this lesson.
Every year we go to my Mom's for Christmas Eve dinner. It is a tradition we have had since I could walk. It is one of the few times that all the siblings are together, or at least most of us. But this year everyone was spread out, staying in their own homes and states, so our dinner was a small group. But my children were anxious to get to Grandma's early anyway. That is one expectation that is lived up to by my mother!
I cannot explain the bond our family has. But let me just end this rambling by saying I love my children. I love my parents. I love my siblings. And I love that my children have had the privilege, yes privilege, to grow up around my siblings, not as aunts and uncles, but as friends. We have all had our share of trials and loss this year. Some much greater than most of us can comprehend. But at the end of the day, at the end of Christmas Day, it is about family. Again, cliche I know. But it just is. We watch out for each other. We play together. We pray for each other. We just are. And my children see it and embrace it and for that I am thankful. My Christmas was just being there. Eating way too much, but having plenty of moral support to do so :) and one too many board games to distract us. Thank you Mom and Dad for raising such outstanding men and women and reminding us what Christmas is.
Chase in his favorite mask!!
