Do you know people who say
they hate Christmas? I do and it makes
me sad for them. Thanksgiving and
Christmas are my favorite holidays. Autumn
is my favorite time of year. To me, it
is the most wonderful time of the year.
It is a time to give thanks for all we have been blessed with, a time to
remember what and who is important to us.
My family hasn’t been able to
have “Christmas” as we have been accustomed for about six years now, but I am
not bitter nor angry. I still find
reasons to be thankful and grateful. I
am thankful that my children are old enough now to understand why they don’t
have gifts under the tree, but I am most
thankful that I raised them to appreciate life and what they can do for
others. Tears come to my eyes as I think
about things they have said or done over the years. I remember one Christmas when my son was
about 8 years old, it looked like we were not going to have much of a Christmas
at all. I sat down and explained to him
that he might not have a big Christmas like he had always been accustomed
to. He replied, “That’s alright,
Mommy! That is not what Christmas is all
about!”
Talk about choking back some
tears, but this Mama did! It made me so
proud of him at that moment because even at 8 years old, he got it.
I remember another Christmas,
my very young daughter wrote out her Christmas list. The very first thing on her list was not for
herself but for underprivileged children.
When I read it, I burst out crying.
I knew in reading that we had done our jobs right as parents. I remember another Christmas where she wanted
to volunteer at a soup kitchen and she didn’t want gifts for herself, she
wanted me to take the money I was going to spend on her and donate it to a
needy family. She still has dreams of
going into the Peace Corps. Frankly,
that terrifies me for her, but at the same time, it makes me fiercely proud of
the very giving young lady she has become.
The spirit of Christmas to me
is a feeling, a feeling of thankfulness, gratitude, love, giving, and so much
more. There is truth to the old cliché
that it is better to give than to receive.
There is such a peace in being able to do what you can for others, even
if it means giving your last 6 dollars to organizations like the Salvation Army
when you aren’t doing so great financially yourself because you “get” it. Ethel Percy Andrus said it best, “The human
contribution is the essential ingredient.
It is only in the giving of oneself to others that we truly live.”
That is what life is about
and if you haven’t figured that out yet, well…you are just missing out is all I
can say.
I love spending time with my
family during the holidays and I treasure every single moment. I don’t take my life for granted nor do I
take the lives of my family for granted.
I thank God for every single day they wake up breathing and are blessed
with their health. I love our family
traditions of drinking egg nog and listening to Christmas carols as we decorate
the tree and house, of eating sausage biscuits for breakfast on Christmas
morning, and watching the Christmas parades on TV while Christmas dinner is
being prepared, the smells of it permeating through the house. I believe Christmas is a special time for
special miracles and that Jesus is most definitely the reason for the season!
So, I ask you as you go
through the holiday season, are you going through it because you are stressed
with the shopping of trying to find just the right gift and getting your
Christmas cards mailed out on time, or are you going through it thankful and grateful
to your Maker for all you have been blessed with? I’m kind of glad in a way that things have
been tough for us at Christmas these last six years because it has taught me
to be grateful for what I do have, not what I don’t have. So, if you feel the stress, just stop, take
inventory of your life. Realize what is
important! Be thankful and grateful for
your blessings and do what you can to help someone else who might be less
fortunate and, when you do, you will be the one to receive the biggest
blessing!
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