Well, it’s come and gone. Another Christmas season has been celebrated, cards sent, goodies baked, gifts given. Did you enjoy it?…relish it? Did you CHOOSE JOY? Oh, how I hope you did!
This was a quiet Christmas for us, in that we didn’t travel this year. We are the ones that live away from the rest of the family, and, typically, we travel to them. However, this year we stayed home, just the four of us. We definitely missed seeing everyone, but it was special to have that much time to be our little family of four again. With both girls away at school (one out-of-state), that doesn’t happen very often.
I, of course, had things planned for us to do. And we did them. We played games and went to the movies and enjoyed being outside (a special treat for my girl-from-the-north to be wearing her flip-flops!). We ate our favorite Christmas treats and even broke with tradition to enjoy an Italian Christmas dinner, complete with tiramisu! But, there are specific things about this Christmas that have risen to the top like so much cream.
- My baby (18) calling me “mommy” a lot.
- Leaving the girls watching a movie and laughing together, as I went off to bed.
- My husband, giddy, as he watched me open my new Mac computer (which I didn’t know I was getting) and as he watched the girls open their new Macs (which I DID know about!).
- Hearing my family’s voices singing together in church.
- Laughing like crazy while we played Apples to Apples
- Finding an “I love you” note on my computer from my girls.
- Waking to the quiet of my house, knowing it was the quiet of slumber and not the quiet of emptiness.
Was it a perfect holiday? Of course not. Did everything go exactly as I had it in my head? Again, no (does it ever?). But that doesn’t matter. I chose JOY this Christmas and, because of that, I didn’t miss the treasure of this sprinkling of unassuming gifts. I’ll tuck them away as reminders of the “Word made Flesh”…the most treasured, most unassuming gift in history, wrapped in the skin of a squalling baby boy.
Dad AND I loved reading this blog. We felt your joy! We chose joy, also, and had a wonderful christmas even though our Garman family couldn’t be with us. The Father kept our spirits close. We love you and yours!
Mom and Dad